The hungry tide
Inspired by Amitav Ghosh’s stories set in the Sundarbans, Kolkota-based photographer Supratim Bhattacharjee is obsessed to capture all shades of India’s most famous mangrove forest. The award-winning photographer used to spend summer holidays at his maternal grandparents’ house in Canning, close to Sundarbans, a World Heritage Site and the biggest mangrove forest in the world.
The 40-year-old shutterbug started to capture the tranquility and beauty of the forests when he was a teenager. He became a serious documenter after the Sundarbans was hit by the super cyclone Aila in 2009. Now, his latest exhibition showing in Hyderabad, Sinking Sundarbans, charts the changes in the great forest over the past 15 years. He rues the fact that in three decades, indiscriminate cutting down of trees have altered the landscape and damaged it.
“Several islands of the Sundarbans which used to be full of Sundari trees and mangrove forests no longer have sustained their green aura,” he says, adding, “The huge trees which served as a buffer to soil erosion from tidal floods are no longer there. So, floods and cyclones are now a common affair here. Several islands have already gone under water and the rest are standing in queue.”
Bhattarjee’s striking images capture both the beauty and ferocity of the rivers and islands, as well as the trials and tribulations of the people who call the place home.
As a visual storyteller, the lensman’s purpose through his exhibition is wide, both in its heart and scope. “I want to show how the people of Sundarbans are living under a constant threat from cyclones. How the villagers are used to seeing their houses and belongings drowned in the river, and they have no reassurance of refuge. Losing shelter every other day has become a common phenomenon here. My goal has been to shift the attention of world leaders to the plight of ‘Climate Refugees’,” Bhattacharjee says.
The photog’s work revolves extensively around environmental causes, social and humanitarian issues. His work on fossil fuels, impact of fishing on rivers and the Teesta water stalemate are highly debated environmental topics that need immediate attention worldwide. The documentation of Sundarbans, however is the closest project to the photographer’s heart as he considers the place his second home. “I see people moving everywhere for shelter, their homes being swept away and their toils to collect drinking water,” he recalls.
Bhattacharjee is intent on redording the sufferings of the Sunderbans and its blighted people until someone realises a picture is worth a thousand words.