Sea swept

Celebrating ‘Earth Day’ has become an urban fad. And much talk about rising pollution level and growing impact of global warming in social gatherings is seldom followed by any steps to curb the issue. Well-known environmental activist and Delhi-based photographer Ravi Agarwal in his recent solo photography exhibition titled “Else, All Will Be Still” talks about the exploitation of nature in the name of development and how this is affecting fishermen.

A close encounter with the sea and life of fishermen in Pondicherry made him ponder on the ecological changes happening in the coastal fishing beaches and how it is constantly eroding. “The ground changing experiences led me to further carry my ongoing explorations about the man-nature relationship,” shares the writer and curator and adds, “The show is based on my experience in the fishing village near Pondicherry where fishermen friends helped me navigate new waters, which gave me an insight on what’s happening in the coastal line. It led me further to explore about the politics of ecology and how people look at nature.”

The collection of photographs on display deals with ideas of nature and also how it is different for the fishermen. He says, “The fishermen community understands the sea, its moods, the weather and its currents like the back of their hand. They are very respectful of it. If it is stormy or if the waves are bigger, they do not go out, as they know the power of the ocean. They co-exist with nature in humbleness. They fish in it, but never think they are bigger or powerful than the nature.”

The works are an outcome of working with the fishing community and how they address the connection of local and larger issues surrounding ecology and sustainability today. “Today, the planet is in an ecological crisis. It is framed as a conflict between economic development and the planet’s limit to support a growing and resource intensive human population. It is the age of the power of man, the Anthropocene, where human actions will determine the future of the earth.”

One of his works titled ‘Rhizome’ uses words extracted from interviews with fishermen regarding how they think of the sea. The placards have words like cyclone, crab, engine, sangam and port. “These are the words used by the fishermen’s community to describe the sea. They never use the words ‘nature’ or ‘beauty’. They have a direct relationship with the sea and it is a part of their life. On the other hand, I, as an outsider, think of the sea as nature or as beautiful. This work comes from the new philosophical idea that ‘nature’ is a construct and it does not really exist in that form.”

Ravi’s relationship with the sea grew along with Selvam, a fisherman who is determined to wean away his children from the non-rewarding profession of fishing. A video installation titled ‘Shoreline’, has Selvam engaged in his daily chore, but his strong, silent face remains restrained, refusing to speak about his desperate circumstances.

The exhibition also draws inspiration from Tamil Sangam poetry. Talking about it, he says, “My work titled ‘Sangam Engines’ is a collection of five photographic prints inscribed with words from Tamil Sangam poetry refers to five landscapes of nature as internal landscapes of emotion.”