The proposed talk shares select case studies of artists from Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Punjab who extend their creative practice beyond their studio and respond to their regional ecological and agrarian concerns. These case studies attempt awareness through community projects, public interventions, and performances. The presentation is an outcome of a documentation process with each artist/ group that are distinct in their approach relevant to their regional socio-cultural scenarios. With each artist hailing from the farming communities, the studio practices are informed by use of visuals as well as the material for making art corresponding to their primary concerns. Here are details of the projects that the presentation will be engaging with

1.      WARAL Prakalpa being the initiative of the Warli artist brothers Tushar and Mayur Vayeda from Ganjad, Dahanu, the project aims to reinstitute of the human & nature’s symbiotic relationship through native agricultural methods of agroforestry, creative community projects, by building of a repository of Warli traditional narratives transferred through oral traditions from the Bhagats, and Women members via allied rituals bound to the agricultural cycles. https://spore-initiative.org/en/processes/partners/waral-prakalp 2.      The project Sahaydri Samvad in collaboration with Arunkumar HG’s centre SARA Sustainable Alternatives for Rural Accord in Shimoga was a marathon pop-up exhibition project that reached to over 100 schools and colleges of the District supported with expert interaction and talks about the Western Ghats ecology and the need for its immediate conservation. https://faandee.com/sahyadri-samvada-mobile-exhibition-content-and-design-project-climate-action/ 3.      Indelible Black Marks (Kale Syah Daag) an ongoing artistic intervention inquiring the impact of Green Revolution, over use of synthetic pesticides, the speedy reduction of bio diversity, rise of mono cultures, and impact of agricultural policies on impoverished farmers. Through the act of ‘stubble burning’ for artistic purpose, the artist works on an overwhelming scale to showcase the wide and deep impact of non-indegenous agricultural practices that have led to unsustainable futures risking the basic health and survival of the people (country) who rely on the same complex system of agriculture for food security. https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-indelible-black-marks-by-kulpreet-singh-seeks-to-be-a-mirror-to-the-society-at-large