And Then There Were None

In Alfred Hitchcocks film Birds,the sparrow is a symbol of impending tragedy,since it is usually smaller creatures who become victims of larger ecological doom.

In Alfred Hitchcocks film Birds,the sparrow is a symbol of impending tragedy,since it is usually smaller creatures who become victims of larger ecological doom. In Delhi,the tiny chirping sparrows are almost extinct a sign of the ecological threat.

An art exhibition,titled The Lost Sparrow,at Threshold Art Gallery in Lado Sarai brings this aspect into focus. The show has been conceived and executed by Sahiba Chauhan and the artists featured include Anjolie Ela Menon,Manu Parekh,Seema Kohli and Sebastian Varghese.

Using art as an active tool for social change,we aim at initiating a public art project for ecological awareness, says Tunty Chauhan,owner of the gallery. There will be art awareness workshops for children held by the gallery for schools and NGOs.

Waking up to the chirping of sparrows is a part of everyones childhood memory. Once abundant in human habitat,these birds are hardly seen today and need our help to popularise their cause, says artist Paramjit Singh,whose canvases for the exhibition are nostalgic about the past,when trees were abundant,there was a farm in every neighboring plot and cycling around Nizamuddin was not a novelty.

The reasons for the dwindling population of sparrows range from chemical pollution and radiation from mobile towers to overuse of pesticides and changes in architecture, says Nabanita Dutta-Guha,a young artist. Her canvas is densely packed with flowers and wildlife.

While Dutta-Guha has dedicated her work to the sparrow,her canvas also features a honey-bee,a monkey and an ant.

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