The notion of sustainability is inescapable today, permeating everything from policymaking to the things we consume. Undeniably, in a world where the climate crisis and resource depletion are concrete facts, these conversations are imperative. Additionally, it’s necessary to have these conversations across disciplines, understanding that sustainability is a gradual process, and should not be top-down. Putting forward a gradual, collaborative, interdisciplinary view of an intangible idea can be difficult, but Sustaina India—a first-of-its-kind platform where science meets art to inspire collective climate action—aims to do just that.

Conceptualised by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a sustainability think tank based in Asia, and Indian artist duo Thukral and Tagra, the platform staged an exhibition (on view till February 15, 2024, at Bikaner House, New Delhi) curated by Jiten Thukral, Sumir Tagra and Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi offering a detailed understanding of everyday materials, allowing for various forms of engagement and asking viewers to fundamentally realign our relationship with the planet. As Thukral and Tagra state about their vision for Sustaina, “When we received the invitation from CEEW over a year ago to establish a platform that could host conversations around art, science, and climate, we turned to material-based practices and solutions. As creators, we firmly believe in the power of materials to channel a sensorium of touch, smell, sound, and vision as paths to climate awareness and retention for the current and future generations.”

The material realities of the display and how it affects our lives are at the forefront of the interventions at Bikaner House through sensory and tactile installations, documentary-based artworks, and even recipes for a better climate future. The showcase is an appeal to the visitor to look again, with “eyes to the ground, heart to the horizon,” as the exhibition text states as a general motto tying the interventions together. According to an analysis carried out by CEEW, the organisers of the exhibition, eight out of 10 Indians now live in districts vulnerable to extreme climate events. As we confront the alarming impacts of climate change, it has become necessary for us to collectively reimagine our future.

As Mihir Shah, Director of Strategic Communications at CEEW, states, “Today, we increasingly have data to understand better and act on climate change, the most pressing global challenge of our times. Yet, in a fragmented and tumultuous world, climate action remains on the fringes of public discourse and has yet to find significance in daily lives…With Sustaina India, we [hope to] forge a dynamic action-oriented platform that emotionally connects and inspires artists, local communities and policymakers to scale up climate ambition and action.” While it may prove difficult to convey the scale of adversity and urgency of the climate crisis, art can provide a visual and emotional connection to advocate for collective climate action. We can only imagine alternate futures for habitation if we work collectively and recognise the role artists play in shaping imaginations.

The exhibition, in this way, is an assemblage of different perspectives ranging from the every day, the personal to even the non-human. By bringing together an intersectional view across art, science, and policy-making, Sustaina India aims to mobilise creators to integrate decentralised climate awareness and sustainability conversations into the cultural fabric of India and beyond. It remains rare to see contemporary artists display their work in white cube spaces, engaging directly with local communities and actively working towards a broader understanding of sustainability.

The current exhibition centres on the work of three emerging artists—Debasmita Ghosh, Manjot Kaur and Rachna Toshniwal—supported through a fellowship programme. Each artist adds a different voice to the understanding of living sustainably. Toshniwal’s There is no such thing as waste is part of her ongoing work with a community of women in Alibaug. A fishing net spans the gallery space, indicative of the community Toshniwal works with, while a range of objects, sculptures and tapestries, all woven together from ocean waste, is displayed along the room. The project reuses the waste that washes up on Saaral Beach, weaving it into tapestries, textile sculptures and installations. The idea was to foreground the skills and stories of the local community, as Toshniwal mentions.

In a similar vein, architect Debasmita Ghosh’s Living with the Land revisits vernacular architectural practices of the few remaining Adivasi communities in Rayagada district, Odisha. By focusing on the changing building practices of the region, Ghosh brings to light transitions in the ways of life of the indigenous Adivasi tribal group, Khonds due to climate change and other external factors. The installation is a representation of this idea, with a free-standing mud wall being taken over by a concrete one. Images, conceptual diagrams, and quotes from residents expressing their unhappiness with these shifts add heft to the narrative. Ghosh mentions the level of care these communities practice for immediate ecosystems, and the need to protect such situated knowledge. She mentions the relevance of traditional building and integration with contemporary practice as a way to build resilience for the future.

The third fellow, Manjot Kaur, presents The Parliament of Forests as an exception to the community-centred rhetoric of the other two. Through a three-channel video installation, the work draws attention to the sovereignty of the forest and other ecologies. It highlights the plurality of voices in an ecosystem and asks the viewer to broaden the horizons of what it means to seek justice for the forests and the species that inhabit them. Kaur’s work suggests that thinking about sustainability and habitable futures also means thinking with the non-human. Further artworks on display similarly probe the lines between community and ecology, personal and political, everyday and momentous.

For instance, through a series of five photographs, visual artist and photographer Pallov Saikia’s Rahmaria Archive documents the transition of his village’s landscape as it is gradually submerged into the Brahmaputra River. The images of the half-submerged artefacts framed in a bamboo structure highlight the urgency and need for climate action. Shilpa Bawane’s Devotion at the Brink presents a set of drawings that are speculative studies for environments that could be built from organic materials and are inspired by the way birds gather materials one by one for the construction of their homes. Textile and fashion designer Gaurav Jai Gupta’s cornucopia-like fabric installation dominates the gallery where these are displayed. Working at the intersection of textile and carbon, Kaalchakra is a fusion of craft and technology, where the designer uses particulate matter causing air pollution in making dye for the artwork.

Adding to the discourse on everyday sustainability is Climate Recipes by Srinivas Mangipudi and Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi which emerged from conversations with environmentalists, foragers, academics, urban planners, eco-architects, chefs and farmers, in Goa as entry points for an adaptable life.

And, the display that highlights how one might truly live more sustainably is by Edible Archive, a Goa-based restaurant. A Winter’s Tale: Delhi is an interactive installation that urges audiences to create their favourite winter recipes from a selection of local ingredients, thus imagining an alternative future. Other artists on display include Richi Bhatia, who stages interspecies conversations through performance, and sound artist and composer Bhaskar Rao who contributes a sonic layer with a sound installation.

The exhibition, centred on different modes of sustainable thinking also brings to mind Ursula le Guin’s essay Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, where she counters the idea of the spear being the first human tool, to talk about gathering and the carrier bag. Through the essay, she highlights why stories are important, the original role of craft practices, and the importance of the collective. The interventions organised by Thukral & Tagra with Mopidevi all showcase the collective effort towards sustainable life, though not explicitly. They ask one to join forces, reimagine and act.