From the rustic world of Dev D to the realistic, urbane locales of D-Day, Mumbai-based Sukant Panigrahy creates striking visual identity for films that have been widely acclaimed. The art director recently created a truck-size Miniature Mumbai using scraps for a video album of an upcoming artist. “The song is on Mumbai but my work will show how the city has changed over the last few years due to the disappearance of greenery,” he informs. Kapala, his art installation on dangers of e-waste, received huge appreciation earlier this year and is going places.
Incidentally, it is Mumbai and the film industry which has instilled in him the spirit of activism.
“Living in Mumbai for over a decade, I could see what the city was turning into, with the greenery disappearing. I wanted to do something about it but was not sure how,’’ recalls Sukant. In 2006, it was during the making of the film Aaja Nachle that Sukant realised the amount of waste film sets were generating, particularly due to the use of plaster of Paris. “After we dismantle the set, we dump it as garbage and nothing can ever grow on the land where plaster of Paris is strewn. I started reading about it and knew I not only had to reduce the use of plaster of Paris in my own sets, but also had to do something to promote the eco-friendly concept through my work,’’ he points out.
That is how Sukant decided to use art to promote awareness. From making a debut with a fallen figure of a woman using all organic products for a theme based on Women during War at the Bring Your Own Film Festival in Puri to an ‘organic’ mermaid exhibited in a Mumbai resort right on the sea, Sukant started making small endeavours to give out a message.
Though he was working with organic products, he wanted to do something more meaningful. “One fine day, looking at the waste piled up near my workshop, it struck me that I could also create art using all forms of waste.”
The opportunity came in the form of the MTDC Food Festival at Gateway of India, where he created a 13-feet-high Buddha face with all waste products which was widely applauded.
What fetched him the limelight was the 2012 Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai where he displayed a black horse that was made out of cycle tyres, scrap metal, twine, plastic rings and paper. “I clearly remember they had closed entries but when I wrote to them about the kind of black horse I had in mind, they were more than willing. The horse got a lot of attention and my visitor’s book was filled with appreciation,’’ he says.
Sukant then shifted his focus to e-waste. “India being the largest consumer of electronic goods, e-waste is a massive concern. I knew I had to generate awareness on this,” he explains. This led his very popular art installation, Kapala and the totems of Kapala, making their first appearance at the Kala Ghoda Festival 2013.
“Skull is a sign of danger and that is why I made it using all e-waste products,’’ he explains. Sukant has already taken his Kapala and the tribe to different festivals across Mumbai and also to Puri, and has plans to do road shows with it throughout the country.
He also has plans to take this model to different developing cities to spread awareness on what happens when there is no green. He will be working on a bigger installation on mother earth using all kind of waste for the International Biennial Festival to be held in Odisha in November.
“For me, creating awareness on such issues is an ongoing process but all this doesn’t fetch me any money. I do it from whatever earnings I manage from my films. Support from corporate and other groups can go a long way in helping me in my endeavour,’’ he concludes.