Twelve global artists have voiced their concerns about climate change through varied paintings, focusing on carbon, a fundamental element for life and the primary cause for the greenhouse effect - that is seen to be a detriment for the future survival of human beings.
Titled "Carbon-12," after the most common natural isotope of the non-metal, a two-day-long exhibition of the artworks beginning today, attempts to offer a unique intersection of art and science by shedding light on man's relationship with earth while highlighting the impact of his carbon footprints.
One of the artworks titled 'The Sun' is of a dark-skinned Egyptian woman donning a crimson red bindi, who looks back at her viewers with teary-eyed rage, as if in rhetoric.
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"My idea was that she is the sun but she is sad and a little bit angry because she does not like what she sees - what people are doing to the planet," Lithuanian artist Dovile Norkute, who has two of her artworks on display said.
Her works are also symbolic of a peaceful amalgamation of cultures with her subject, who at first glance appears to be African, but wears a familiar Egyptian hairdo with the quintessential red Indian bindi.
Norkute's works are an effortless mix of oil, graffiti, calligraphy and photo on collage.
The selling art show was inaugurated last evening at the Egg Art Studio here by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, who termed it as one that "easily touches your heart."
"The topic is carbon footprint which we are experiencing today in the form of climate change. This is a beautiful exhibition which makes people aware of the dangers and artists have come out with various good concepts and they easily touch your heart," he said.
The minister who was part of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris last year and later at the UN Climate Summit in New York, said that the only way to face the challenge of climate change was "common will, collective wisdom and joint efforts."
"The challenge can be met by common will, collective wisdom and joint efforts. And therefore, what we decided in Paris and later in New York is about mitigating the challenge of climate change.
"I believe that if human intervention has caused climate change, now human intervention in positive way will help mitigate the challenge and we can deliver or hand over a better earth to the future generation," he said.
In layman's language, carbon footprint can be essentially termed as impact of human beings on the environment measured by the greenhouse gases they are responsible for creating.
Meanwhile, the artworks displayed at the exhibition are the outcome of a 2-week long residency held in Jaipur earlier this year. The artists were joined by a science writer, Adam Voiland, from NASA, whose works are also a part of the show.
Claudie Dimbeng hailing from Ivory Coast uses the concept
of 'mixed art relief' to drive home the message of how carbon footprints are affecting the planet.
Her work titled, "We are life, We are earth" is a textured piece of abstract art in myriad colours often rendering a 3-dimensional effect. Its relevance to the theme of the exhibition lies in how she has created the artwork.
The artist uses locally available materials, often found objects - marble powder, tree bark, leaves, handmade paper and recycled paper from factories, natural dyes and ceramic paste - all of which are "ecological."
"My artistic concept is mixed art relief which is mixed media technique and also a way to the mix of cultures, but it is very ecological and organic. The purpose for me was to produce a green organic artwork which will be nature friendly because it is all about our impact on the planet.
"I also wanted to produce an artwork with a mix of cultures. So this is inspired by the colours of India matched with the colours of Africa," said the artist, who has been living in Paris for the last three decades.
Dimbeng says her work which is a splash of hues across a horizontal canvas, is symbolic of, "life, power and energy and can be seen a piece of earth. It shows the power that we have to make a change."
For Indian-born artist, Premila Singh, the element of carbon has both positive and negative, and the focus should not be on eliminating it from the environment altogether, but to strike a balance.
Her work in oil, showcases, the "carbon crying for help. Not the earth, but the carbon, because even they feel saturated."
Various 'grey' gas emissions from the 'green' earth rise up to disturb the nature, making the background 'black' with pollution as "carbon tears" fall on to the earth crying for help.
The artist who is currently based out of South Africa said "In everything there is a presence of carbon. The negative goes with the positive. We can't live only on oxygen. We need the content of carbon to balance. If you think that you are going to rid the environment of carbon and live in paradise, that is also a fallacy."
Other artists participating in the show include Joan Belmar (USA), Grete Marsten (Norway), Roya Delkhush (Iran), Katherine Mann (USA), Lithuanian artists and Giedre Riskute, Audrius Grazys, Margarita Chacon (Mexico) and Bo-Suk Lee (South Korea).
Artworks in the exhibition that ends on May 4 are priced between Rs 4 lakh to 8 lakh.
