On November 8, surreal images of devotees offering prayers during the Chhath Puja as layers of toxic foam floated over the Yamuna river in Delhi went viral. This wasn't a photo performance of the kind Atul Bhalla excels in, though one wishes it was. "The Yamuna is sacred in Hinduism, but look at what unchecked sewage and industrial pollution have done to it. We are living in a country which has no political will to fix this situation, nor there is [sic] enough public opinion to make a difference," says Bhalla, the 57-year-old multidisciplinary artist who has actively brought the eco-politics behind water back into the cultural conversation through the span of his three-decade-long career.
Initially starting out as a painter before switching to conceptual art, Bhalla—who grew up in West Delhi where, "Twenty-four-hour water supply was, and remains, a myth"—has used his artistic nous to draw attention to the 21st century's biggest crisis. "Most of my work stems from water. I want to understand it in all its essence and purity—the real and political as well as the metaphysical and the fundamental place it occupies in our lives. After all, 60 per cent of the human body and 71 per cent of the earth is water," he says.
Yamuna Flood-11 by Atul Bhalla, who rues, "The Yamuna is sacred in Hinduism, but look at what unchecked sewage and industrial pollution have done to it"
Artist Atul Bhalla
One of his most remarkable works is a site-specific installation entitled Wake. Having found a permanent home at the Heritage Transport Museum in Haryana, Wake is no ordinary boat. Made with traditional technique, it's a vessel anchored in the symbolic relationship between nature and those dependent on it. If you want to know what's wrong with Delhi today and the wreckage climate change has thumped on it, try taking a dip into the Yamuna. As Bhalla himself did, for his irreverent photographic series, I was not Waving, but Drowning. Yet another of his popular works poses the questions—"Have you ever seen the Yamuna? Have you ever touched the Yamuna?"
The Yamuna, of course, has long been the locus of Indian civilization. Along with the much-revered Ganga, it enjoys the same legal status as any living person. Yet, Bhalla argues that millions of Delhi's inhabitants are "totally disconnected from the Yamuna." Today, the river can only be glimpsed through barricades as a commuter plies across the flyover. Even though around 25 ghats open out into the Yamuna, huge walls were built in the aftermath of the great flood of 1978 which effectively shut it from public view. "Travelling to the source of the river, I see people bathe in it, visit the temples and use the same water for rituals. Then they go sit in a restaurant next to the river and ask the vendor for a bottle of Bisleri water. How do you come to terms with such ludicrous ironies of modern life?"
Italian artist Andreco's wall art was a hybrid between art, science, ecologies and climate action
Rekha Hebbar Rao was deeply saddened to see the Varthur lake spew contaminated froth, as seen in her artwork Foam and Froth
In Deep Rivers Run Quiet, Reena Kallat Saini put a spotlight on the geopolitical fallout of water
Having found a permanent home at the Heritage Transport Museum in Haryana, Wake is no ordinary boat
Bhalla is part of a group of artists, intellectuals, and novelists leading from the front in their fight against climate change. In the West, Olafur Eliasson's climate activism is well known. (He once hung a giant sun inside the Tate Modern). There's writer Amitav Ghosh who has issued a grave warning that the colonial cities (New York, Boston, Mumbai etc.) will soon be submerged in water in the coming decades because of disavowing native ecology during their process of construction. Back home, artists addressing the water stress and using it as an elemental motif in their works are only increasing by the day.
In recent years, we have seen Reena Kallat Saini's Deep Rivers Run Quiet (2020) spotlighting the geopolitical fallout of water. Known for her mythological dreamscapes, Jayasri Burman's last exhibition in Delhi was an ode to river Ganga and "how humanity has destroyed her for its purposes." Burman adds, "As artists, we have to raise our voice against water pollution. For the planet's overall health, it's imperative that we nurture Mother Nature as our own mother."Last year, the Bengaluru-based Rekha Hebbar Rao's Melancholy State of Happiness held at the Bangalore International Centre was inspired predominantly by the water crisis and other urban issues that have dogged her city. Like the Yamuna, the frothy lakes of India's Silicon Valley have been consistently grabbing headlines in the last few years. "Lakes here have been encroached by land sharks, and I learn that hardly 17 good lakes exist. Many are filled with weeds," concedes Rao, who lives close to Varthur lake. Deeply saddened when the lake started spewing froth, highly contaminated by the nearby factories and decades of human habitation, she says, "I have also watched methane floating on Bellandur lake catch fire! At the heart of all this is water shortage. Heavy rains, rivers and lakes are overflowing. Water all around but not a drop to drink."
Italian artist Andreco's wall art project in collaboration with St+art India Foundation
Last year, the Bengaluru-based Rekha Hebbar Rao's Melancholy State of Happiness held at the Bangalore International Centre was inspired predominantly by the water crisis and other urban issues that have dogged her city. Like the Yamuna, the frothy lakes of India's Silicon Valley have been consistently grabbing headlines in the last few years. "Lakes here have been encroached by land sharks, and I learn that hardly 17 good lakes exist. Many are filled with weeds," concedes Rao, who lives close to Varthur lake. Deeply saddened when the lake started spewing froth, highly contaminated by the nearby factories and decades of human habitation, she says, "I have also watched methane floating on Bellandur lake catch fire! At the heart of all this is water shortage. Heavy rains, rivers and lakes are overflowing. Water all around but not a drop to drink."
Rao has good reasons to be anxious. Experts say we have long passed the tipping point. The Paris Agreement of 2016 may have replaced 'sustainability' with the fancier 'net zero', but it remains to be seen how global warming can be tackled on the ground level. While countries around the globe work towards curbing global warming to 1.5°C (even as COVID-19 stays rife), acute hazards of climate change have already wreaked havoc on our aquatic ecosystems. Despite the UN's mandate for every person to have access to 50 to 100 litres of clean water per day, this most basic of human needs constantly remains under threat. Scientists have been crying about the impending climate apocalypse for decades. The more likely scenario, though, is that we may die of water scarcity before that.
What nobody is telling you is that India has been facing its worst water crisis in decades. Depleting water tables, riverbeds shrinking, urban taps running dry, droughts and erratic monsoons, and a fast heating planet underscores the risks we are already staring at. The NITI Aayog report on the Water Crisis of 2019 placed India at 120th amongst 122 countries in the water quality index, with nearly 70 per cent of water being contaminated.
Italian artist Andreco. Image: Elaine Miller
Jayasri Burman's last exhibition was an ode to the river Ganga
Climate ambassadors like the Italian artist Andreco are taking that message straight to the common man, paving the way for art to shift from the rarefied confines of art galleries to the streets. In collaboration with the St+art India Foundation, Andreco's 2019 wall art project Climate 05 – Reclaim Air and Water, a hybrid between art, science, ecologies and climate action, focussed on Delhi's bad air quality and the precarious condition of the Yamuna river. The Rome-born artist painted the air pollution with air pollution itself by using Air Ink, a colour extracted from smog. He sent out a strong reminder of the Yamuna's bleak future ahead, working with scientific data.
A climate activist more than an artist, he says art can make a difference, "My work envisions climate and social justice. I want to share the idea that everyone can shape the future in a better, desirable and sustainable way." Although he strongly believes that "art and culture can contribute to the public debate on climate change and help influence people's perceptions and the emotions related to the actual crisis," he's worried about what's in store for humankind. "NOW's the time to act at every level: citizens, communities, policymakers, and governments. Otherwise, it will be too late."