The heal project: Bandaging tree branches across Pune, a couple aims to help environment

The project is the brainchild of a Mumbai-based couple Kislay and Sheena Vora, as part of which, Vora and his team go around the city and bandage tree branches.

“I spent my childhood in Kutch and I remember playing around trees all the time. Later, when I shifted to Mumbai for a course at JJ School of Arts, I noticed that the distance between people and trees was growing at a fast pace. People who live in the city were okay to let go off trees without understanding the long-term damage. The air we breathe is increasingly getting toxic,” said Vora, adding that in today’s world ‘development’ means ‘construction’,” he said.

“For construction, government authorities do not think twice before cutting trees. Thus, I started The Heal Project last year,” he added.

The project was recently introduced in Pune and will go on till more artists become a part of it and help them spread the message across the city.

Currently, nearly 20 trees in Koregaon Park have been bandaged as a part of the project, and it is expected that hundreds more would be included.

While across the country, nearly 80-100 artists and volunteers have joined the project, including Gauri Kurumkar, Sneha Chaudhari, Madhuri Kuchekar and Ruchira Atmo from Pune.

The art initiative, he said, aims at creating awareness among not only the children but also the adults and the government bodies. To help them realise the importance and the value of taking care of the environment, including the trees, for a healthier living, he added.

Other than Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bhopal, Indore and Bengaluru have also become a part of this initiative.

On why did they use gauze bandage for the initiative, Vora said that during the research work for the project, they had noticed that people were ignorant to the concept of pain, if it was not portrayed through human expression.

“The bandages symbolise healing of the pain mother nature feels when we take her for granted,” he said.

“It is still not too late to turn back the clock. We will still be able to nurse our trees, rivers and air back to health and leave our children a legacy of health and abundance. All we need is a collective will to make a difference by contributing to the healing process in every little way we can. And we can start by respecting our natural resources,” said the artist.