Veteran film director Shyam Benegal known for his documentaries concerning various social issues is happy with the fact that a global icon like Leonardo De Caprio has made a documentary on climate change ( Before the Flood) which has garnered attention from every part of the world. Uncertainty and fear for the future has become a recurrent theme in movies around the world as many movies are either set in a post-apocalyptic world or has depicted Earth as a no longer inhabitable planet but only few films are explicitly attributing the catastrophe to climate change. Known for dealing with social themes with contemporary appeal in his films, Benegal reiterated that non-recovery of money invested is a big reason why films cannot explicitly reflect the present situation of global warming. “Art emerges from life and experience of life is distilled into art making it an umbilical cord kind of connection. Concerns like climate change is an imminent problem which should be explained in great amount of detail and mediums like photography, fine arts and films can provide great help in explaining that,” said Benegal who was in the Capital to inaugurate Panchtattvas: The Road Ahead, an exhibition of photographs at the India Habitat Centre. Based on the theme of sustainable development, the exhibition is a part of first-of-its-kind theme based photography festival, Habitat Photosphere. It focusses on sustainable development through photographs and photo-based installations created by the four awardees of the photography grant instituted by IHC’s Visual Arts Gallery.
Emphasising on the need of such events, Benegal said that the consequences of industrialisation should be considered wisely and such changes should be documented through mediums like photography. “There is an imbalance in nature due to the industrial revolution. This whole discourse leads us to the question of balance and that is something that all of us should try and achieve,” lamented Benegal on the changes in the climate patterns. He also added that art should investigate the concerns of environmental degradation and instead of limiting it to galleries, it should reach out to the public spaces accessible to common man.
The event tried to add a sense of hope through the efforts for taking action on climate change by merging it with the creative medium of photography and films. Son of a photographer, Benegal asserted that documenting the changes through photography can make us conscious of the consequences of the changes around us. “We only concern ourselves to those problems which affect us directly and now after living under the smog in a city like New Delhi, one must become conscious that the problem is directly related to us which need immediate action. We have to build that consciousness among the masses through different mediums,” remarked the 82-year-old director.
Known for its vibrant space and model of sustainability, IHC will continue to hold the event until the end of December and will hold series of interactive and educative workshops, curated walks, talks and a film festival on subjects like climate change, migration and the impact of uncontrolled development. “We are a festival with a green conscience evoking the bhaav of sustainable developments across all genres of photography,” said Dr Alka Pande, curator and artistic director of Habitat Photosphere.
