HYDERABAD: Chitramayee State Gallery of Art is hosting a conceptual art show to create awareness about the hazardous impact on the well-being of the planet and humankind, amid serious environmental issues.Called Lonely Planet, it explores the various effects of human life on nature — such as pollution, urban and rural divide, global warming and wars. CE speaks to Sayam Bharath Yadav, the curator of the exhibition which has works of 11 other artists on display.
Two years’ of nature’s wrath unleashed on mankind in the form of the Covid-19 pandemic moved Sayam to put such a show together. “The past two years saw us experience the cumulative effect of our neglect of nature. Man has been exploiting nature to satisfy his greed without worrying about its harmful effects on other creatures, as well as on nature in its entirety. I feel the pandemic was nature’s way of teaching us its value, that it is our duty and responsibility to protect its integrity,” he shares.
For the exhibition, he got in touch with some artists in the city, who are equally passionate about the environment. “I made a couple of calls, people showed interest and we put up the show with the aim to create awareness about climate change. Barring one artist from Visakhapatnam and another from Karnataka, all others are from Hyderabad,” Sayam tells CE. He adds that most of the artworks are by budding artists, who excel at the craft, namely Harsha Kancharla, Jangaiah Polepogu, Jaya Prakash D, Mahesh Pottabathini, PJ Stalin, Ramesh Baikani, Sabita Lakshmanan, Sharath Mudupu, Thrigulla Murali, Uma Vegesina and Sayam himself.
“We have been seeing a great response from day one. We had put up some 250 saplings of different kinds of plants at the gallery. I thought I’d take some home at the end of the day, but was surprised to see them all picked up within less than an hour. It only goes to show that our project has been a great success, inspiring participants to do their bit for the environment,” Sayam says, adding that most of their visitors are students of fine arts, writers and a crowd that is willing to act upon what they’ve taken from the art show.
Sayam lauds the support of the gallery and Nagaraju Nadikuda of Dreamscape for making Lonely Planet a reality. Once done with the show on March 27, he hopes to train and engage artists who are serious about art that brings forth purpose and value.