Two-and-a-half years ago, Harsha Durgadda turned his farm into something extremely special that united his love for art and the environment. Integrating creativity into care for the earth currently mirrors the soul of the upcoming Telangana and Andhra Pradesh editions of the Climate Recipes project. Harsha’s art and the project both ride on a deep devotion of giving our planet some love, using unshakable ways that honour and heal nature.
Climate Recipes: Part Two is a coalition of simple, personal leads from experts like architects, journalists, scientists, activists, artists, and farmers on how to help the planet thrive. They offer ideas for farming, taking care of forests, sharing resources, listening to each other, and living in harmony with nature. For this edition, the advice comes from experts in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and is shown in the gallery through drawings and 3D displays. The exhibition will also include events, workshops, and talks about land, the environment, and climate issues.
Curators of the show, Srinivas Mopidevi and Srinivas Mangipudi engaged with 15 climate experts. “Our conversations with them have been a cornerstone of our project, allowing us to explore the multifaceted challenges of climate change,” they share. Likewise, every interaction was carefully distilled into a concise blurb, complemented by drawings and flowcharts that elaborate on the discussions. The visual components, Srinivas explains, are intended to serve as accessible ‘climate recipes’ for the exhibition’s crowd, translating tricky ideas into understandable and inviting formats. One of the inquiries he poses through the curation is, “If electric vehicles (EVs) are the answer, what is the question?” This quest is designed to stimulate critical thinking about the environmental implications of EVs, contesting the notion that they are a panacea for our planet’s challenges.
Complementing Srinivas’ approach, artist Harsha, who focuses on the grassroots level, underlines the importance of seed exchange and natural farming practices in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. His contributions, which include space installations and drawings, aim to immerse visitors in the world of sustainable agriculture, elucidating the viability of traditional practices in contemporary environmental discourse and discussions.
Another contributor and cotton expert, Poludas Nagendra Satish analyses the dynamics between designers and weavers, uncovering a nuanced recipe of interactions that speaks volumes about the textile industry’s unseen hierarchies. “Weavers play a pivotal role, yet their skills are often exploited,” Satish observes, pointing out how handloom weavers face challenges because factories and machines are taking over, which is very different from the traditional way of weaving by hand.
Free entry. March 30, 6 pm onwards. At Dhi Contemporary, Madhapur.