Bengaluru exhibition showcases climate change through people and their objects

Greenpeace India and the Museum of Art and Photography, Bengaluru, are hosting the Climate at the Margins: Gender, Class and Caste Vulnerabilities exhibition on November 16 and 17 at MAPS

While the world gathers in Baku, Azerbaijan, for COP29, the one question that people in developing countries are grappling with is how much of these talks will lead to change at the grassroots. From forest fires to heatwaves and flooding, it is the poor and the marginalised who have to bear the brunt of climate change.

In this backdrop, Greenpeace India and the Museum of Art and Photography (MAPS), Bengaluru, are hosting the Climate at the Margins: Gender, Class and Caste Vulnerabilities exhibition on November 16 and 17 at MAPS. The exhibition aims to bring forth real people and their stories of loss, survival and resilience in the face of the climate crisis. After showcasing their work in Chennai and Delhi, the exhibition has arrived in Bengaluru, in the form of a digital museum. 

The exhibition showcases everyday objects of people who have endured extreme weather events in different parts of India. Artist Sabari Venu, who has designed the exhibition, says, “We combined various visual and storytelling techniques with the museum’s technology to sensitively bring these stories to life.... We are sharing the raw, human stories.”

Avinash Chanchal, Deputy Programme Direct at Greenpeace, talks about how with COP underway, where every day we are hearing a lot of discussion on loss and damage, the question that comes up is: “What does it really mean for the people and for the community who are at the forefront of this damage?”

Beyond numbers

“When we read and talk about climate change, it’s mostly a lot of data, research and statistics.  But these are not just numbers, they are real people who are facing climate crisis in their daily lives. We reached out to communities across the country, and we collected very individual stories of these losses from whether it is a heat wave, cyclone or so on,” he says.

Amruta S.N., climate campaigner at Greenpeace, highlights how those most affected by climate disasters are often the ones who are the least responsible for them. “It is quite clear that the big oil or the fossil fuel industry has been historically responsible for more than 80% of the climate emissions that has led to the climate crisis.... However, when you look at the profit that they have been reaping, it is more than two billion a year at the cost of marginalised communities,” she said. 

When we look at cyclones or heatwaves the worst affected are the people who live on the coastline, who engage in vocations such as fishing, agriculture etc. Even during the heatwaves, it is always the landless or small to medium land-owning farmers who suffer. “Polluters must pay for the losses and damage. It should not be the least polluting communities that pay,” said Amruta.

Symbols of disaster

From towels, books, dolls and cycles, objects that are intimate to our everyday lives, the same objects are displayed in the exhibition that symbolises people who have been through something as tragic as a cyclone or the loss of a family member.  

“We wanted to make the climate crisis as palpable as possible for someone who is sitting in a city like Bengaluru to understand what is happening to people in the Sunderbans, to try and step into somebody else’s shoes and understand what they have been through and what are their battles,” says Amruta. 

One of the excerpts from the installation titled, Heart of Hearts, highlights the story of Zeenat from Padham Village, Munger, Bihar who fondly remembers her two-year-old daughter, Rakiva, playing with her favourite dolls. “In 2023, Rakiva passed away due to a heat stroke after suffering from high fever and vomiting for two days,” she is quoted as saying. Zeenat has donated her daughter’s dolls to the Museum of Memories to serve as a reminder of how climate impacts the poorest. 

Sarees from a Flood is the installation of a saree that belongs to Gajalakshmi from MRS Palya, Bengaluru, a slum community affected by flooding annually. The installation highlights how climate change has caused rampant flooding in most parts of India, and how it is the poor slum dwellers who are affected by it owing to the poor infrastructure of these slum areas.

Of caste and gender

Bhumika Saraswati, journalist and filmmaker, who works at the intersection of climate, caste, and gender is holding a workshop that focuses on creative documentation of the impacts of extreme heat, and how heat intersects with gender, caste, and identity in our everyday life. “Any conversation on climate is incomplete without addressing the intersections of gender and caste. Women, particularly those from oppressed caste and class backgrounds, experience extreme weather events disproportionately,” says Bhumika.

The two-day event also has community leaders coming forth to share their experience of loss and resilience. The show concludes on Sunday Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bengaluru, from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.

Published - November 16, 2024 10:27 pm IST