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Renowned German playwright Bertolt Brecht once said “Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” Brecht has always been one of my favorite writers, but I believe that art’s responsibility extends to being both a mirror of the times we live while simultaneously showing us the way forward. Therein arrives prudently the intersection of art and activism. Historically, the future of humanity has always been in the balance but we have always managed to wade through the waters of uncertainty. However, in this present era, we find ourselves with the most uncertain future, on the precipice of inevitable extinction, if we continue to wage the never-ending war with nature and do not rectify or reverse the damaging ecological blows that have been dealt by us for thousands of years.
This brings me to Kolkata-based painter Koustabh Chakrabarty's ongoing exhibition, 'Ecotone', which places itself at the vital juncture of visual art and environmental activism. The paintings in the exhibition reflect the ethos of Jaladarsha Collective, an organization of which Koustabh Chakraborty is the co-founder. The collective has been working tirelessly to bring to light the environmental issues in the outskirts of Kolkata and the villages of West Bengal, particularly the Sunderbans. The collective is engaged in mass-scale water cleanup drives, organic farming, cooking, and promoting arts and crafts by local tribal and gender-marginalized communities. Its philosophy is one of inclusion and following intersectional approaches to environmental initiatives. Koustabh merges the collective’s quintessence of environmental activism along with his artistic vision to treat the viewers to this visually captivating and thought-provoking exhibition.
All the paintings in the exhibition are connected through an invisible thread, which when put together, creates an astute narrative and a visual tapestry of the complex present-day relationship between humans and nature. The first section of the exhibit contains the lively part of our symbiotic relationship with nature. Inspired by the work being carried out by the rural women’s cooperative societies of the Jaladarsha Collective, the paintings depict pastoral scenes such as churning ghee and making pickles and jaggery. In these villages, the Jaladarsha Collective has also created a program called Khelaghor, which translated from Bengali, refers to a space for children to play. Some paintings showcase the village children living a life attuned in the lap of nature and each other’s company — they are depicted as planting trees, flying kites, playing local games, getting to know their environment and organically connecting with their peers. In a world where we connect through smartphones and social media platforms, these simple joys of life almost always elude us.
A considerable section of the exhibit is dedicated to the present-day geopolitics of the Sunderbans. A major problem the region faces is the problem of migration. The men, who constitute the majority of the labor force, are leaving their home villages to look for more viable work outside. This has left the women doing their work like catching fish and laying bricks, alongside their own familial responsibilities. Paintings such as 'Fishing on the Edge of Survival' pay tribute to these working-class women, who spend almost half of their days submerged waist down in the saline waters of the mangrove forest. It is these ‘waters of uncertainty’, that find visual completion in the Sunderban series of paintings.
There is uncertainty as to how long they can continue this back-breaking lifestyle. Being waist-down in the waters for almost half of the day has given rise to many female hygiene problems, which are never addressed. Also, the constant onslaught of nature in the form of cyclones adds to the gloom and uncertainty. It is not just nature’s fury but also man-made exploitative forces that are at work here in the form of child labor and unfair wages to women. As women and children bear the brunt of patriarchy and nature, Koustabh depicts this dualistic oppression through the two pincers of a crab in the painting, 'The Pincers of a Brick Kiln'. Along with the portrayals of the challenging trials and tribulations, there are also paintings in the series that beautifully capture the beauty of the lively and diverse mangrove ecosystem. The creatures and trees in the Sunderbans emerge all the more precious in the paintings because of the imminent existential threat that they are under.
The next section of paintings are like droplets of water going on to form a canal, a pond, then a river, and then finally merging with the sea; thus mirroring the movement of water. The four paintings in this series have been deliberately portrayed as clean contrary to the general condition of waterbodies in Kolkata. A major part of Jaladarsha Collective’s work involves mass-scale cleanups of water bodies in the city. This series is a tribute to that. At the same time, the idealized portrayal of these waterbodies is a call to action striving towards collectively envisioning a better future for the existing waterbodies.
For me, the most beautiful part of Ecotone lies in how Koustabh astutely portrays the eco-political reality of all the places the Jaladarsha Collective has been working in. At the same time, his brushstrokes broaden the dialogue to a global scale. After all, the theme the exhibition delves into is not a localized problem but a universal one.
The final section of the exhibit goes on to view us not just as residents of Sunderbans or Kolkata but of Mother Earth as a whole. As we find temporary gratification in calling ourselves ‘civilized’, with our high-rise buildings and fancy technology, we forget that we still very much have a tethered and organic relationship with our life-giver. More than us, it is the next generation that will bear the brunt of our actions just as we are suffering the consequences of our forefather’s actions towards the environment. We are the generation that stands between survival and the doomsday clock hitting twelve. As Koustabh’s painting 'Ecotonal Entanglement & Its Pixels' exemplifies, our collective actions toward environmental stewardship will resonate through time and space.
Despite showcasing the brutal reality of things, the exhibition leaves the viewers with a sense of hope. A glimmer of light, however faint, finds its way through the cracks of the darkest caves. Even though we find ourselves at a crucial point in human history, it empasizes that a collective form of eco-consciousness is the key to mending our broken relationship with our planet and ushering in a better tomorrow.
"As a curator, I am captivated by the way his works transcend the boundaries of visual art; becoming conduits for introspection and contemplation. They remind us of the delicate balance we must strike between progress and preservation, innovation, and conservation. In this exhibition, the ecotone becomes a metaphorical bridge connecting us to our roots, our heritage, and the enduring beauty of the natural world."
Reena Dewan, curator of the exhibition
Ecotone
On view till: 30th April, 2024
Venue: Bridging Culture & Arts Foundation (B-CAF)
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