KOCHI: Terms like ‘Environmental degradation’, ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ might be cliche subjects to speak of, but it is a subject that continues to inspire artists of every ilk. Having been an art director in the advertising industry for over three decades, Ramu Kochattil has lived to witness the changes urbanisation and ‘development’ has wrought on the landscape, and the effects of which have begun to manifest itself.
“What we see around us is the wanton exploitation of natural resources. And over the past few years, we have been witnessing the effects of such exploitation in the form of global warming,” says the artist, whose first exhibition of artworks titled ‘Warming Earth’ concluded on Sunday at Durbar Hall.
The 20 works under this very self-explanatory title grapples with the total phenomenon of climate change. Relying primarily on charcoal and watercolour on canvas, Ramu grapples with the phenomenon of climate change through imagery that is fairly straightforward.
Through the series, the artist depicts not only the present state of the world, but also looks back at a simpler past and presents a foreboding of what the future might hold, if there is no respite to the current rate of environmental destruction. Many of the human figures in the series bear an odd resemblance to Greek figures.
A particularly poignant work was that showing a couple of birds nesting on steel bars, trees having been completely wiped out. Another one is a reference to the floods that engulfed Chennai last year. Yet another one is a take on the parable of a crow dropping pebbles into an earthen bowl to drink water, only this time around there is no water for the crow to drink.
Ramu is, however, hopeful that good sense will dawn on us. The work depicting a woman holding a leaf and passing it to another illustrates this perfectly.