People often view plants solely through the lens of human utility. But what if they were viewed as living beings with their own histories? An exhibition at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi, titled ‘Inheritors of Earth’, brings together paintings, photographs, drawings, videos and installations that explore this idea.
On view till December 22, the exhibition, curated by Premjish Achari, senior curator at KNMA, moves beyond the conventional representation of plants as decorative elements, sources of food or objects of ecological conservation, encouraging viewers to reconsider their place within a shared ecosystem. The title draws from Malayalam writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's 1977 short story collection Bhoomiyude Avakashikal, translated as ‘Inheritors of the Earth’.
Achari explains that in Basheer’s story, the protagonist realises that although he owns a piece of land, he does not have complete control over it. Several other species, including birds, insects and reptiles, also share the space. Achari says the exhibition emerged from his concerns about the way humans understand their relationship with plants. "When we are planting trees, we are not doing anything for the plant. We are actually doing it for ourselves. We are entering into a transactional relationship with the plant. We are planting more trees because we want more oxygen," he adds.
He points out that even when plants are studied scientifically or represented in art, they are often viewed through a human-centred approach. Their own agency and ways of existing rarely become the focus. Rather than making artworks about plants or simply using plant materials, the idea was to create works with plants, allowing their lives and histories to shape the artistic process, he says.
A botanical perspective
Among the works featured in the exhibition is a video project by T K Sandeep that looks at Hortus Malabaricus, an early botanical compendium commissioned in Kerala during the Dutch colonial period. The publication documented and illustrated the plants found in the region, with the help of local physicians who possessed extensive knowledge of plant life. Sandeep revisits the compendium to trace the movement of plants into and out of Kerala. One of the clips shows a man carrying a log of wood on his shoulders and walking from one end of the frame to the other, against the backdrop of the Arabian Sea. The visual possibly represents the trade routes through which plants and other goods were transported by sea during the colonial period.
Works by Ishita Chakraborty also explore the colonial history of plants and their transformation into commodities. Through two-dimensional hanging sculptures, she juxtaposes acrylic and pencil paintings of plants on one side with patterns inspired by printed cotton sarees on the other. The works trace how plants such as tobacco, cashew and cocoa were uprooted and transported across regions to serve colonial plantation economies.
Himangini Maharaul’s series, ‘Clouds of the Unconscious’, features botanical impressions created using klecksography, a technique of making images through symmetrical, inkblot-like patterns. The works depict native and foreign plant species like pine, juniper, and eucalyptus found in the highlands of Nepal and India. Interestingly, each artwork is titled ‘Self Portrait’, reflecting the exhibition’s central idea of exploring the world from a plant’s perspective.
The exhibition also features a live sculpture created using growing plants, bringing a landscape into the museum space.
Guardians of nature
Arunkumar HG’s lenticular prints trace the transformation of once-green landscapes into those altered by industrial activity. For instance, one of the works, ‘Undoing of a River’, captures this change through images of Karnataka’s Sharavati river before and after the construction of a reservoir, with the lenticular format allowing viewers to see the two phases.
The relationship between ecological knowledge, caste and labour also finds space in the exhibition through Arunkumar's series ‘Vulnerable Guardians’. The work focuses on farmers, the primary guardians of plant life.
The curator notes that farmers share a close relationship with plants through agriculture as well as their surrounding forests and natural ecosystems. He further points to the decline in agriculture and the sale of agricultural land for commercial projects, which often displaces farmers and pushes them to migrate to cities in search of work. The work, thus, shows how the people most closely connected to the natural world are often among those with the least control over it.
A question of custodianship
Rather than seeing humans as owners of natural resources, the exhibition encourages viewers to think about custodianship as a shared responsibility.
It also raises questions about the way development and urban expansion take place. Achari believes there is a need to recognise the “extractive” relationship humans share with plants and reduce the damage caused to the natural world. "We need to be clear about these extractive relations which we share with the plant world. We need to be also aware of how not to violate this world to a greater extent," he says.
At its core, ‘Inheritors of Earth’ challenges the idea that humans are at the centre of the planet and have the right to control everything around them. By bringing attention to the lives of plants and the people whose lives are closely tied to them, the exhibition invites viewers to reconsider what it means to share the earth.