Reviving indigenous art for wildlife conservation

A rooster sketch, drawn from an egg shape, captivated young Sudarshan Shaw, leading him to fill page after page with rooster drawings.

Years later, this passion drove Shaw, now 29, to pursue a career as an artist, painting wildlife inspired by a variety of folk-art traditions but with his own distinctive style.

Growing up in Bhubaneswar, Odisha (eastern India), Shaw was deeply influenced by the rich local culture of folk tales, mythological representations and traditional art forms such as Patachitra and Kalighat paintings. The city's temples, adorned with intricate sculptures, also played a significant role in shaping his art.

Shaw graduated from NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) in Delhi in 2016. During his final year, he started a project focused on wildlife conservation and environmental awareness, drawing inspiration from the captivating jungle narratives of Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan: a world of majestic tigers, ancient forts, pristine lakes, indigenous flora and seasonal transformations.

Drawing from the tradition of Phad painting in Rajasthan, a centuries-old scroll painting style renowned for narrating tales of regional deities, Shaw crafted a series of artworks. While doing so, he came to the realisation that local folk art serves as a cherished language spoken and honoured by the masses, offering a potent means to engage and connect with communities.

Embracing a novel approach, he embarked on an artistic journey that fused wildlife, conservation and traditional Indian folk art. These local folk art works capture the essence of daily life, beliefs, practices and the region's rich flora and fauna, having endured through generations in different forms like scrolls, embroideries and household decorations.

"For any community when it starts, art is the way of life," said Dr Alka Pande, an art advisor and curator at the India Habitat Centre's Visual Arts Gallery.

Indigenous art revolves around the creation of both aesthetically pleasing and practical items that are often produced for personal or communal use within the community, Dr pande explained. She described this art form as a sincere and heartfelt mode of creative expression that typically develops without the influence of formal education or training.

"Many folk arts of India are produced by the communities whose proximity to nature is demonstrated in their art," explained Dr Bitasta Das, a humanities instructor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru who specialises in 'Mapping India with the Folk Art' in order to understand the nation and its people through living art.

"For instance," she said, "the Gond art of Madhya Pradesh has plants and animals as their primary motifs; the tree of life is an important theme of the Warli art of Maharashtra; the Madhubani art of Bihar symbolically depicts deep spiritual meanings through flora and fauna."

According to Shaw, art plays a fundamental role in indigenous communities as it has the unique capacity to convey complex emotions through simple expressions.  Through the "fossilised journeys of evolutions and civilizations," he said, art becomes a language of history that requires no formal education or translation. "It doesn't just create awareness; [it has the potential] to revolutionise."

In 2022, Shaw conducted a webinar titled 'On the Quest to see a Tiger' for the Indian Institute of Science (IIS).

"Being aware of his good work, we invited him to give a lecture understand what unites science and art," shared Dr Das.

The students at IIS breathe new life into Indian folk art by combining it with science, illustrating scientific and technological processes through their artwork. "We examine if folk arts - visual, performative and narrative - have the vocabulary to express complex scientific processes," she explained.

These artworks, she added, are documented in two books: Arting Science (2016) and Jal Jungle Zameen in the Age of Science and Technology  - Water, Forests and Land in the Age of Science and Technology (2019).

Biodiversity Maps

Inspired by the Pattachitra style, traditionally crafted on dried palm leaves and fabrics with natural colours, depicting festivals, seasons, rituals, flora, fauna and tribal heritage, Shaw's first wildlife map painting showcased Odisha.

And while Shaw was creating maps for different states, Bahar Dutt, a prominent environmental journalist and professor at Shiv Nadar University in Delhi, envisioned a unique project: developing a biodiversity map for the university campus.

The university, spread across 286 acres, is encompassed by fertile agricultural lands and a thriving lake, which stand in stark contrast to the concrete jungle of Delhi city.

While researchers at the university documented 234 wild and 120 cultivated plant species, along with 10 species of mammals, 65 species of birds, nine species of reptiles, five species of amphibians and 54 species of butterflies inhabiting the campus, the students remained largely unaware of this rich biodiversity. As a result, the decision was made to create map paintings infused with Indian folk art to bring this natural wealth to the forefront of students' consciousness.

The university declared that it is committed to the UN Sustainable Goals of protecting the biodiversity, and stated that their campus acts as a "living lab" where they actively work to preserve and conserve the natural surroundings.

Shaw felt that this would be a significant collaboration, especially since it takes place in an environments where people are often caught up in bustling urban settings and remain unaware of the nonhuman species that coexist with them. He told FairPlanet that reawakening curiosity, wonder and consciousness about the nature that surrounds us and the role we play in it could serve as a powerful catalyst for conservation efforts.

Mughal miniature folk art style became Shaw's inspiration because of its capacity to depict the contrast between untamed wilderness and architectural marvels, which he saw as a reflection of the unique regional context of the biodiversity-rich university campus.

Since the installation of the wildlife map on campus, students have reportedly become more aware of the surrounding biodiversity. 

Tribute to Pre-colonial landscapes and language

Shaw's artistic concepts are rooted in research and involve extensive exploration of the documented local biodiversity and close engagement with the communities. He visits these locations to grasp the essence of their visual and cultural heritage, drawing inspiration from local legends, folklore and popular visual traditions.

His distinctive art style, Folkindica, pays homage to the pre-colonial Indian visual landscape and language, resulting in a fresh and distinctive form of Indian art.

"The richness, rootedness, thoughtfulness, and vibrancy of ancient Indian art is combined with beliefs and practices of Indian culture, a combination of both biological and cultural, symbolic and descriptive... wild and decorated," shared Shaw .

Raising conservation awareness

Sudarshan Shaw's art has found a place on the walls of numerous Indian households. He has crafted approximately 16 biodiversity maps that grace the walls of state offices, forest departments, colleges and various other spaces. According to him, those who value his work aren't solely drawn to it for aesthetic reasons but also for the message it conveys about wildlife and conservation.

"Appreciation of folk-arts signifies approval of the philosophy endorsed," said professor das. "These are handmade with minimum or no use of machines, and [are] not bulk-produced commercially." The raw materials used in the paintings, including mud, clay, cow dung, rock, leaves, flowers and rice, are sourced sustainable and in relatively small quantities, she pointed out. 

As part of one project, Shaw contributed a series of illustrations to Earth Crusaders, an organisation dedicated to focused on-ground research, local conservation, community awareness and action campaigns targeting various species.

One of the paintings in his collection, for instance, sheds light on the widespread illegal parakeet trade in Odisha. The artwork utilises the size of the bird as a symbol, illustrating how beliefs and interactions with the parakeet influence its image. It invites the audience to contemplate different perspectives, celebrating the reverence for parakeets in local traditions while emphasising the contrast between the magnificent sight of wild parakeets flying freely and the plight of caged parakeets.

Inspiring a new generation of forest protectors 

The Sendhwa Forest Division in Madhya Pradesh, central India invited Sudarshan Shaw in December 2022 to lead a workshop titled "Jan Van-Chitran: Art of the forest, by the forest, for the forest.” This initiative aims to rejuvenate a new generation of folk artists and forest protectors.

The workshop was conducted as part of the Green India Mission initiative by Mr Anupam Sharma, the DFO of the Sendhwa forest division and the Forest Department. This initiative aimed to revive tribal culture and create income opportunities for the local communities.

Approximately 40 young people from the Bhilala and Barela tribes of Madhya Pradesh participated in the workshop. Initially, Shaw shared, they believed that art was a skill beyond their reach, requiring complex techniques and training. But they soon discovered that local art is not just decorative but also serves as an informative tool.

"It brought their attention to the art in and around them that couldn’t be found on Google," he said. "And soon the room was full of day-to-day observations of local biodiversity, colours of the land, wild strokes and free expressions."

During the workshop, they found strength, motivation to explore their heritage, a sense of freedom in expressing their folk culture and a direction for the future, not just for themselves but also for the forests, Shaw observed. As a result, he added, some participants plan to continue practicing these art forms, while others are eager to spread the word. The Sendhwa Forest Division intends to support these communities financially in their efforts.

His future plans

Shaw's mission, he said, is to rekindle pride in India's indigenous art and foster appreciation for folk art communities.

"The folk artists are great custodians of the environment and climate," shared Dr Pande from India Habitat Centre's Visual Arts Gallery. "The art comes straight from the heart using natural materials, found in the respective environment celebrating the local." 

"Shaw is among the handful of artists in India who are using folk art to address contemporary themes," Das concluded. His work, she remarked, blends tradition with modern issues like environmental awareness, biodiversity loss and climate change, which means it has the potential to touch a wider audience.

At the moment, Shaw is working on various projects commissioned by conservation organisations. One of the major challenges he faces, however, is getting compensated fairly for his time and effort. Undervaluing artists, he worries, risks undermining the sustainability of this vital art form. 

Image by Sudarshan Shaw.