CHENNAI : Google image search of the Ennore wetlands will first show you a lush green land blessed with lakes, mangrove forests and a vibrant population of fishes, birds and animals. It takes a few more scrolls to see the deteriorating conditions of the wetland. The environmental adversities here have been evident since the 1970s when the industrialisation began in and around the wetlands.
“Over the years, industrialisation has only intensified. The fisherfolk and residents have been complaining about degrading wetlands, environmental and air pollution, and health effects for a long time but the response from the government has been lukewarm. In 2017, after the floods, the government announced a scheme to restore the wetlands. But it was poorly brought out and the fisherfolk opposed it. At the same time, they also thought that it is necessary to tell the government what it was that they needed and what should be done for restoration. In 2019, a process to prepare a people’s plan for eco-restoration of wetlands began in consultation with the fishing villages of Ennore,” explains writer and activist Nityanand Jayaraman. A year and a half ago, a group of people started getting information from other communities (non-fishing) about their aspirations in their area. That will be launched as a people’s plan on January 27.
To bring issues of Ennore to the fore by using art as a medium and launch the people’s plan, artists and activists are conducting the Ghosts, Monsters & Dreams exhibition, organised by the Coastal Resource Centre with support from the British Academy. Breaking down the exhibition’s title, Nityanand shares, “Ghosts refers to the memories that people have of their neighbourhood — kind of relationships with animals and plants, about the landscape and waterscape, about their gods and spirits. Monsters refer to the current scenario where a lot of what they know has disappeared by the introduction of new anxieties and worries. Dreams are their aspirations for the future of their land, children and other life forms.
For the people, by the people
The People’s Plan for Eco-Restoration of Ennore Wetlands is different from the government’s plan, asserts Nityanand. The art exhibition is a part of a research project that reimagines the idea of a Good City (Chennai) in the context of the people’s struggle to protect the Ennore wetlands.
“The government’s plan is unable to deal with quantifiable but extremely important concepts like emotions, stories and relationships. The people’s plan relies on these emotions and relationships and builds upon stories in addition to data. Over the last three years, we have been collecting stories from elders in the community to see how people have related to their land and the life around it and how that relationships have changed or degraded,” he says. Nityanand adds that the issues have been primarily around the economy (jobs and livelihood), health and ecology, and it is also important to restore degraded relationships along with the wetlands.
The plan will be launched by three retired judges — Justice S Muralidhar (former chief justice of Odisha High Court), Justice D Hariparanthaman (Madras High Court), and Justice K Kannan (Punjab and Haryana High Court) at Ennore Vyaparigal Sanga Thirumana Mandapam, Kamaraj Nagar. “Typically, policy changes are ideated and presented in offices. For the first time, it is presented as part of an art exhibition. It is also unique in the fact that it is coming from people who are stakeholders in everything that happens,” says Satwik Gade, independent artist and curator of the exhibition.
Satwik has worked with M Adhithya Mohan, M Elavarasan, S Kirubavathi and M Rajesh along with Aafreen Kabir, Benisha, Dhavalya Sagar, John Cook, whose artworks will be featured in the exhibition. “The idea was to use artistic materials to tell the essence and the expression of the story as interestingly as possible. Since the artists are students, the idea was also to keep things experimental. We focussed on the stories and tried to figure out what kind of visual composition would be best for the story. Five artists have experimented with 12-15 kinds of mediums. They were given time to engage with the issue, talk to solidarity activists and fisherfolk in Ennore and Pulicat areas. The exhibition is a culmination of all of the discussions and art making workshops,” he shares.
Kirubavathi, who is presenting her work on Manipur Thamizhachi along with three other artworks that she relates to, shares, “Manipur Thamizhachi tells the story of a native of Manipur who came to Ennore in 1996. She was married off at an early age and couldn’t study further because there weren’t schools nearby and she had to travel a lot every day. I travel almost six hours every day from Chengalpattu to Chennai, so I understood the difficulty. I also focussed on the fact that Ennore has people from different places. Just like it has eagles from here and flamingos from other places, people from different parts live in the land,” shares the artist who used the medium of thread to portray the story.
Artist Rajesh wanted to focus on the food and livelihood of the people of Ennore, thus Mathi Curry, his woodcut work tells the story of people who catch fish from Kosasthalaiyar and make flavourful dishes out of it. Similarly, every artist tells a story innovatively.
Plaguing issues in a play
Another highlight of the event is the play Once There Was A River co-written by students from north Chennai (Korukkupet, Vyasarpadi and Ennore). “We have staged the play in Korukkupet, Nochikuppam, Kattukuppam, Kattupalli and so on. But it is being staged in south Chennai for the first time. We worked with the people for over seven months, deriving the dialogues and story of the play. It highlights different problems plaguing the people of north Chennai from water scarcity to the threat of floods to polluted air. The audience is also encouraged to participate in a conversation with the cast,” says Bhargav Prasad, theatre facilitator. The last time the team had put up the play was before the gas leak, oil spill and floods. Bhargav notes that it was as if the kids working in the play (from classes 10-12) foresaw the issues.
A fertile, productive, remunerative and immensely healthy space degraded into a sacrificed zone is also due to social discrimination, says Nityanand. With the exhibition and the launch of people’s plan, the artists, activists and residents hope that a restoration plan benefitting the people will be brought out. Nityanand concludes, “The hope is that the people’s plan will give some kind of input to the government to align their actions with the aspirations of local communities.”
Ghosts, Monsters and Dreams will on display from January 26 to 28, at Ashvita’s Art Gallery. Mylapore.
For details, call: 8807278544
Schedule
January 26 (3.30 pm to 7 pm)
l 4 pm: Inauguration by Gopi Nainar
l 5 pm: Play Oru Oorula Oru Aaru (Once there was a river)
January 27 (10 am to 7 pm)
l 4.30 pm: Villayattu Vinayagum (Poisoned Playgrounds) film by Thiruvottiyur youth, a Zenith Learning Centre
l 5 pm: Breathless: panel discussion with women of Ennore. Moderator — Virgil D’Samy, Arunodhaya.
l 5.45 pm: Vada Chennai Koothu, film by students of DOT School of Design, Ambattur, Chennai
l 6 pm: Discussion with RP Amudhan, documentary filmmaker
January 28 (10 am to 7.00 pm)
l Day-long: Children’s Good City art workshops
l 4 pm: Closing ceremony and honouring the architects of a Good City