Small Beings, Art & Us

Imagine a deep silence pervading the night; the moon shines through the fog of clouds and the entire village is out in the common ground after dinner. The fathers are sitting on jute charpais, discussing the latest cricket match, the mothers are gathered near the banyan tree, giggling as they talk and children are galloping, trying to catch fireflies in their fists. The insects fascinate everyone and leave sparks of light in their smiles— they call them star insects. Soon the clouds clear up and it becomes difficult to tell apart the sky from the earth…

It is a wonderful sight, isn’t it? Sadly, we live in a world where these starry insects are declining at an alarming rate due to overuse of artificial light— at homes, at the market, in billboards, during festivities, everywhere. I often wonder how we can live the beautiful dream my imagination weaves… As an artist and student, I often come across theoretical discussions about an ideal world;  yet we rarely imagine how these theories will manifest in the lives of ordinary people. However sometimes, there are glimpses.

It was the first week of October this year, and as the world revisited scientist and conservationist Jane Goodall’s warmth and wisdom through videos shared on social media in the wake of her passing, I attended an art exhibition curated and hosted by NAU Foundation (Nature Art Us) in Vadodara, Gujarat. The exhibition offered hope and strength to the world that Jane dedicated her life to— where there is harmony among all living beings, big and small; where all are valued for their presence and role in our elaborate ecosystem.

The exhibition titled ‘Sentience of Small Beings’ curated a space where the life of tiny insects sparked big questions. It was a setting where art and science came together towards the common goal of fostering awareness and sensitivity about the deep interconnectedness we share with insects. The show highlighted the timeless role of art as an agency for change— a voice to speak facts in a language that the heart understands.

It was a culmination of an year-long art-for-ecology programme which unfolded through a series of lectures where eighteen artists from all corners of the world, along with the artist curators Falguni Bhatt (sculptor and ceramist) and Kavita Shah (printmaker and art educator), gathered to listen to scientists and delve into the world of entomology— the study of insect behaviour, life cycles, and habitats. From these sessions, each artist gravitated towards a subject that spoke to them, following its trail through their own inspiration and research.

The exhibition branched into two broad themes—‘Insects and their home & habitats’ and ‘Pollinator insects and their fascinating behaviours’ represented through mediums of ceramics and printmaking. The artworks wove tales of care and connection. Each work was also infused with the artists’ own memories and experiences— offering spectators both emotional resonance and intellectual engagement.

Kavita Pandya, who specialises in the Japanese ceramic technique of Nerikomi, paid homage to the sculptors of the insect world— the dung beetles. She crafted bigger than life ceramic models of the creatures at work— rolling even bigger feces balls to use as food, shelter and nests for their young. Through her work, she examined and highlighted their versatile roles in the nutrient cycle, soil aeration and seed dispersal.

Printmaker Satyanarayana Gavara, born and raised in Narayanapuram, Andhra Pradesh, now based in Vadodara, used woodcut printing to navigate through research and memory. His work titled ‘Keep the Door Open’ shows two carpenter bees drilling holes for shelter in an old wooden doorframe with a string tied to one, just the way he did as a child. Gavara welcomes us to join him in reflecting about coexistence with the bees — to think about how they only drill into old and decaying wood, and realise that they are not a threat to our furniture and doorframes— to look at them as informers who communicate to us when it’s time to repair or replace the wood.

Garima Tripathi, contemporary sculptor working between Lucknow, India and Seattle, USA, imagined an Angeer (fig) as an open bowl,  opening a window to the intricate home of the fig wasp. 

Australian printmaker Kate Gorringe-Smith told the tale of the Blue Banded Bee through a play of printing processes. She created a simple yet impactful image of the bee hovering around a flax lily plant. She chose ecoprinting for the background— a natural dyeing technique whereby by pressing the plants onto the paper, the artist extracts its pigments directly. She then used the medium of linocut— a relief printing method wherein the negative parts of the image are carved out of a rubber-like limonium sheet and the remaining surface is inked and printed onto the paper— in this case, the ecoprinted paper. Through the combination of these mediums, Kate talks about the interdependence between the flora and pollinators. It is reflected in the visual impact the mediums carry— the soothing, and calming natural imprints of the plants and the sharp, solid and bold black ink of the linocut. It is a work that communicates the characters of the subjects in focus through the mediums, and in turn, highlight their contrasting yet interdependent relationship.

Mumbai based printmaker Oli Ghosh’s pop-up booklet captured the simplicity and candidness of the common white butterfly. An unusual friendship shone in the relief and hand coloured print by Sylvia Taylor— printmaker and studio artist based in Ireland. Her work titled ‘Fragile’ showed a cecropia moth settled on a white dress against a dark background. She recollects the time a moth followed her to school disguised as a brooch on her dress. On the other hand, Mumbai based printmaker Tanuja Rane’s etching print alerted us of the disorienting impact of light pollution on moths. And New Delhi based sculptor Shirley Bhatnagar’s vibrant ceramic sculptures explored their nature to blend into their surroundings as a strategy for survival.

The oeuvre of the exhibit felt like a soft nudge, a gentle welcome to educate ourselves about the vast and abundant biosphere we are a part of. The detailed curatorial walkthroughs led by the programme co-ordinator Malvika Jha, unfolded the many layers of the works and helped the audience to discover new worlds of both insects and the creative processes of artists. It awakened in me a sensitivity towards the otherwise unpleasant insects I’d often feel fear and disgust towards.

In a conversation, Pavana Hegde and Priyank V. Shah, architects and co-founders at NAU, nostalgically shared how encountering Australian ceramic artist Julie Bartholomew’s terracotta sculptures of hives—works inspired by honeycombing and honey—first sowed the seed of Sentience of Small Beings. That moment of discovery stirred the NAU team’s curiosity to explore the world of insects themselves and embark on a journey of collective learning, creating, and sharing.

Shah also shared that one of the intentions of the programme, along with raising ecological awareness and promoting research based artistic practise, is to raise funds to build an insect park in Vadodara. They envision it as a project that will help to expand their engagement with the community and strengthen their dream of a sustainable future. NAU’s program, Sentience of Small Beings, was supported by Vadodara based Samvedana Foundation and Ankur Scientific Energy Technologies Pvt Ltd.

NAU’s belief in emotional resonance of art to hold the power to shift perception and influence people was evident at Sentience of Small Beings— as seniors in the audience recollected slower and simpler times; when they lived more in tune with nature, when encounters with insects were frequent— when connections and interactions were thoughtful and kind. And the youth & children were encouraged to think and reflect about our actions and inactions to conserve what is gifted to us from nature— to see the world through a lens that is sensitive, respectful and responsible.

(Rinni Choudhary is a young artist and aspiring writer whose work centers on socially rooted storytelling and learning different mediums of expression.)