The breathtaking beauty of Chilika Lake is often depicted in the works of many painters. The lake though has a dark undertone when it comes to members of the fishing community who are dependent on it. Girish Behera, an artist from Odisha’s Ganjam district, has been using the canvas to bring various shades of this undertone to the fore.
Behera’s latest work ‘White Smoke’ portrays the changing lives of the fishing community settled around the picturesque Chilika, Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon. In the centre of a large canvas, he draws a train passing through a market place surrounded by fisherwomen. The canvas is dotted with several species of fish, prawn, bird and a few Olive Ridley turtles—living beings central to Chilika’s fauna. Faces of the women wear a troubled look and there are no buyers or fishermen in the market.
The smoke emanating from the train is symbolic of industries that are making inroads into the region, pushing the traditional occupation in hard times. “Many fishermen are migrating from their villages as their profession is no longer a profitable one. Besides, the lake has become the playground for the government, politicians and mafias,” the 28-year-old artist, who studied at the Central University of Hyderabad, says. He used watercolours and paper pulp for the theme that won the 57th Rashtriya Lalit Kala Akademi award earlier this month. A research scholar, Behera is working with the Bhubaneswar centre of the Lalit Kala Akademi.
Behera’s creations are inspired by the Mughal miniature style of painting where he adds paper pulp to give a new dimension to his works. Fisherwomen are the primary subjects in his paintings. “This is because they bear the double responsibility of earning money and managing household,” the painter says, who himself belongs to a fishing community. While growing up in his village, Behera witnessed the hardships of his community. In a work titled ‘Homeward’, he paints a group of fisherwomen and a man returning home in a train, late in the night. “Catching fish is the primary job of men. It is then women who do all other work related to fishing. This includes cleaning the fish, processing and selling them in the market. They have to look after their families at the same time too,” he says.
Even in the fishing communities, there is a divide between traditional fishermen and prawn farmers. In two of his paintings, Behera has drawn a large prawn and a fish, with fire on its fins and scales. The artist explains that the lives of fishermen is getting affected by prawn farming, which is considered more profitable. “Not all fishermen can switch to prawn farming because it is mostly governed by mafias and big businessmen. There are many instances of clashes and murders over prawn farming. I have tried to project it by drawing fire on the fish,” the artist says while pointing towards the painting.
Though considered an ‘unforgiving’ medium, the artist has remained loyal to the watercolour after he started painting a decade ago. Behera feels watercolours are spontaneous in character and give a transparent glowing effect to the painting, unlike acrylic or other medium.
Behera is at present working on an untitled theme where he has shifted focus to the migratory birds that visit the lake every year. He draws a flock of flamingos, flying over houses on the coast of the lake, with loose brush strokes. Like these birds, Behera also migrated to this place in search of a better life. The struggle that one has to endure to find work and home in an alien place often finds prominent space in his oeuvre. In future, he wants to highlight the dying art and craft heritage of Ganjam. “I am researching on various aspects of Ganjam’s performing arts, particularly the Bagha Nacha (tiger dance),” Behera says.