We are the world

The project aiming at sustainable development was started in 1994. By 2000,the exhibition had toured more than 110 cities. In 2008 Arthus-Bertrand was made a Knight of the Legion d’Honneur by France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and in April 2009 he was officially designated as the United Nations Environment Program Goodwill Ambassador (UNEP). The photographs in ‘Earth from above’ have been taken from a height of 20-2,000 metres and will be exhibited at the Marine Drive promenade till January 8.

While Arthus-Bertrand’s photographs highlight the exquisiteness of the universe we live in (“Only with love will come the will to protect,” feels the photographer),Brazilian photographer and social worker Conceicao Praun grapples with the issue from the other side of the spectrum— showing how far the earth has deteriorated. On December 9,she launched a calendar in Mumbai called ‘Face’,a black and white environmental documentation of 50 photographs captured in different parts of the world. Whether it is a stark photo of toxic chemicals being dumped into a river or a group of winter-uniformed sanitary workers half-buried in a pile of rubbish,her photographs address one central theme—waste management.

“When I last came to India,I was overwhelmed by the garbage and the lackadaisical approach to waste management,” says Praun who was taught by the master photographer Georges Fevre,a student of Henry Cartier-Bresson. But as soon as she began her quest,Praun realised that India’s garbage problem was only a speck in the larger picture of what was happening in the world.

Both Arthus-Bertrand and Praun,who are attending the Copenhagen Summit on climate change,have literally covered their tracks with Arthus-Bertrand setting up the program ‘Action Carbone’ to offset his own greenhouse gas emissions generated by his helicopter transports and Praun,using wood-free paper for her calendar and ink made of soya.

For the 14 artists participating in the group show titled ‘Nature Vs Modernity’ at India Fine Art Gallery (on until December 16),nature,whether a fallen tree in Alok Bal’s painting,a slain eagle’s head or a man sitting in a boat riddled by holes in Debraj Goswami’s work (“We are living in a sinking world,” says Goswami),is an abstract entity to be represented through a series of symbolic references. As curator and participating artist Haraprasad Tripathy says,“If a painting is predictable,then,for me,it is dead.”

Their art is not meant to be preachy. It is only meant to make you look,appreciate and reflect for a moment. As Arthus-Bertrand says,art should be about rethinking the things you take for granted.