One with nature

Nonika Singh

Anthropocene age, Stanley Brouwn's manifesto, '4000 AD',  Plato's atomic patterns  and professor Will Ste?en's climate change graph... when an artist digs into such scientific concepts, you can't help but wonder whether she is preparing for a climate change summit or an art exhibition! 

Internationally acclaimed artist Vibha Galhotra, in Chandigarh with an exhibition Climacteric, laughs, "I often wonder whether I have become an environmental activist." But, seriously, 'in a data-driven society' she was looking for scientific answers; not, however, letting the artist in her be eclipsed. Rest assured her artistic sensibilities beat strong and clear. 

Sense of aesthetics

Be it the work Altering Boon, made of Belgian beads, or the bed of leaves strewn all over the transformed Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi gallery... there is no mistaking her sense of aesthetics. Take her video film Manthan, the reimaging of the churning of the sea, wherein she brings to you the idea of churning of Yamuna — a metaphor for all rivers in India. Sure enough it depicts the scourge that polluted river Yamuna has become.

Yet as the camera moves through sludge and slush, the poetic resonance is imminent. Indeed, environment is a huge concern with her, as love for nature dates back to childhood years. Not a very healthy child, her play time was restricted and she often spent time observing nature with which she always felt one. 

As an artist settled in New Delhi working with Khoj and Sawetcha, and walks in the city with her friend Sohail Azmi, led her to her muse. Out poured works in a host of mediums, most certainly in her signature material, ghungroos, as well. A lyrical work, The Flow, occupies a pride of place in the exhibition organised by Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi.

Critic of globalisation

Working in multimedia comes organically to her as she feels "each work demands a different medium. Back in time when I was caught in the rut of permanence of material, ghungroo it was and still is." But, today, she has come out of the demands that the market places on an artist. Funded by several international bodies and represented by Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, she negotiates her way through market forces. 

A strong critic of globalisation, where water and air too sell, where advertisements are no more than mockery; however, she is not sounding the bugle that doomsday is around the corner. Only borrowing the poetic words of Chinky Sinha, she is praying for the river, for the earth and all the while asking a pertinent question — who owns the earth and what is our responsibility. 

Clear vision 

So, can artists help reverse the change in a country where environment seems to be nobody’s business? She is positive, “Art can be a great medium to start a conversation, to engage children in critical thinking and bring concerns to the foreground.” So you and I may curl up our noses in disgust each time we encounter the garbage mountain en route our way to Delhi. Trust an artist to not look the other way but to curate an exhibition around melting snows, shrinking rivers and disappearing islands. How she pays heed to the mourning of the river and makes us hear it too... check out her immersive exhibition, which while rejecting the idea of spectacular, creates a vision.

True homecoming

An alumna of Government College of Art, Chandigarh, the exhibition for Vibha Galhotra is a homecoming of sorts. Looking back, she muses, “The college provided an atmosphere to imagine and dream, and Le Corbusier’s architecture subconsciously influenced me to integrate my work within the landscape.”

(Opening today at Punjab Lalit Kala Akademy, Punjab Kala Bhawan; on till February 9)  

nonikasingh @tribunemail.com