An Indian roller with giant wing feathers in beautiful shades of blue, a green-crowned hummingbird perched happily on a red and yellow heliconia flower, a Major Mitchell cockatoo gaping into the distance, and a bee hummingbird feeding its fledglings—while it may be difficult to locate these four species in the same setting, Niharika Rajput (30), a wildlife artist and creative conservationist and her skill as a sculptor can very well bring these birds to life in an enclosed space. A paper sculpture artist, Rajput’s lifelike structures may seem like a snapshot captured in time. Apart from being a fine example of mastery in art, these sculptures are also avian mediums of change as they help generate awareness about wildlife conservation.
A natural inspiration
After graduating in literature from Delhi University, Rajput started interning with People Tree, a design studio and shop in Connaught Place. It was during this time that Rajput got to explore her creative side, learn various artistic techniques, and foray into sculpture making. “People Tree is the place where I started building small sculptures of birds using M-Seal (epoxy putty). A fellow artist taught me to do so. But what I do now is very different from what I did back then.”
It was also around the same time when Rajput started experimenting with other sculptures that were abstract in form. Various elements of nature—trees, leaves, seeds, and more—were constantly incorporated in her work. “I was not quite satisfied with the kind of work I was producing,” she confesses. During a trip to Himachal Pradesh in 2014, Rajput laid her eyes on a bunch of red-billed blue magpies. “I saw about 12 to 13 taking off together. I just wanted to be able to replicate what I saw. The whole scene that I saw was absolutely mesmerising.”
The trip prompted Rajput to experiment with sculptures—she began with mediums such as fibreglass, M-seal, wire etc., and finally started work on paper. Hence came about ‘paperchirrups’, a moniker and Rajput’s website through which she takes commissioned work for her sculptures.
Thoughtful works of art
The sculptures built by Rajput are extremely intricate as she tries to ensure that the features she crafts in the sculpture meet the characteristics of the bird. Rajput starts with sketching the bird and then goes on to building an amateur model using wire and paper post which she paints the bird and adds further detailing, such as the landscape or a prey in the bird’s claws. Every project thus, requires a great deal of research. “I read about the bird, its features, colours, textures, proportion, habitat, etc., so that I have an idea of what I am working on,” she shares. Each sculpture takes a few days, or even months—she is currently sculpting an Indian Eagle Owl that has been in making since the last two months.
The artist mentions that after crafting more than 100 sculptures, the ruby-throated hummingbird remains her favourite. “It was quite a challenging piece. To create the bird in mid-air and showing it as if it is sucking nectar from a flower was difficult. But the photograph came out so well that it seemed absolutely real so it has to be my favourite,” she adds.
Embracing responsibility
Beyond the obvious aesthetic value, Rajput’s sculptures also hold an important social value. On a trip to Ladakh in 2015, the paper sculptor learnt about the endangered black-necked crane—a rare bird found in regions of Tibetan plateau. This is when she started the Art for Wildlife Conservation initiative in 2016, through which she conducts workshops in schools to raise awareness among students. Rajput also organised Ladakh’s first bird festival in 2018. She has also worked on a three-month-long project at Allan Brooks Nature Centre, Vernon, Canada that focused on the threats to the hummingbird because of the changing environment. Her work as a ‘conversation artist’ hence stands at the intersection of arts and education thus substantiating the role art plays in addressing societal challenges. “It doesn't matter what job you are doing. If you can help raise awareness then that is the most important task. Everyone cannot be an ornithologist, a scientist, or policy maker, but one can at least raise awareness to get the dialogue started,” she concludes.