'The Understory' Is Reimagining The Future Of Conservation Through Indigenous Knowledge

For too long, the world has considered technological progress and ancestral knowledge to be at odds. Across South Asia, colonial powers deemed indigenous technologies and belief systems archaic, and as a result, centuries worth of community knowledge was undermined, repressed, and in the most tragic of cases, erased. Today, as we face a climate crisis and the loss of our communities, a homegrown organisation is creating space for indigenous knowledge and paving the way to a brighter, more sustainable future. 

Founded by human rights advocate Harjas Grewal and climate activist Niha Elety, Understory is a platform dedicated to uplifting community and indigenous knowledge. Grewal is an award-winning strategist whose work in sustainable development with startups and globally recognised brands has led to the allocation of over $5 million in driving climate and social impact initiatives. Elety is a sustainable fashion designer whose passion for regenerative design, ancestral craft, and environmentalism has made her one of South Asia’s leading voices on climate justice. Together, Grewal and Elety hope to use Understory to rewrite colonial narratives around climate justice, allowing indigenous knowledge systems to act as a blueprint for climate solutions. 

The rest of the Understory team is equally accomplished, with Abhinay Pandit, who you may know for his work on  ‘Big Dawgs,’ as the team cinematographer, award-winning communications strategist Keerat Dhami as their editorial advisor, and award-winning photographer Keerthana Kunnath as their visual ethnographer.

The organisation believes that regenerative systems– systems that forge a mutually beneficial relationship between humans and nature– are the way forward. Many indigenous communities, across India and the rest of the world, have historically honoured the connection between humans and the earth. By archiving their knowledge and empowering their voices, Understory is a platform promoting both cultural and environmental sustainability. 

The slogan, 'Revival, Resistance, Regeneration', encompasses Understory’s mission, with threads of each concept weaving through the organisation’s projects. The Understory recognises the knowledge we have lost to time, colonial violence, and profit-driven modernisation, and seeks to rectify it. Based across India, Canada, and the United States, Understory’s work across three interconnected branches. The first is the Understory Repository, a community-led archive of Indigenous craft traditions, technologies, and knowledge. The Understory Studio is their creative house, which produces films, campaigns, and other artistic and immersive experiences to bridge ancestral knowledge and emerging systems. The last is the Understory Labs, which offers artists, elders, youth, and more resources to educate themselves and craft climate solution tools.

Through documentation and storytelling, Understory brings indigenous systems back into focus, offering the public access to their knowledge. One post on the Understory Instagram page, for instance, highlights the rural Indian women farmers who use traditional, regenerative farming systems instead of the widely popularised, yet environmentally ruinous, industrial techniques that are popular today. Their work is interconnected with nature, working alongside it rather than using it as a resource. It's a possibility we often overlook because of new industrial norms. 

Understory also aims to work with artists, traditional artisans, and community members to collaborate on future solutions. Their first artistic collaboration is with botanical artist Kaanchi Chopra. Chopra has spent the past one-and-a-half years foraging for her collection of 92 plant species. She uses the plants for cyanotype printing, transforming living and waste materials into gorgeous dark blue representations of our native flora. Her art is a form of preservation, an opportunity to archive our natural world in a precarious time. 

The Understory is currently working on two projects highlighting sustainable cultural craft traditions. Their upcoming short film, ‘Threaded Earth’, will highlight how Jharkhand’s Adivasi communities keep their traditional crafts alive as a form of cultural resistance and environmental stewardship.

Understory is also partnering with the Fashion Design Council of India and ethical homegrown brands like the Tega Collective to create archival garments and build an immersive installation for the India Art Fair. Their work will highlight Lambani embroidery, an intricate craft tradition from the Banjara tribes in Karnataka. These projects further serve the Understory’s mission to honour and spotlight Indigenous knowledge while leading the way to a more environmentally just future. 

Learn more about Understory here. 

Follow the Understory here. 

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