Artists and art enthusiasts in Visakhapatnam explore the outdoors through Nature journaling

Artists, educators and children in Visakhapatnam mark International Nature Journaling Week by sketching and documenting birds and flowers to reconnect with nature

Soaking up the warm summer sun, listening to birds chirrup, observing the textures of tree barks – simple acts kept nature educator K Vimal Raj and a bunch of kids busy on a recent Tuesday morning near Madhurawada. They carried journals, pencils and coloured pencils as they ventured into the community garden and street lined with trees. According to Vimal, who works as a teacher in a Waldorf-inspired school, Nature journaling helps in bringing about empathy in children.

“Nature journaling is a way for the inner child to feel at home. The belongingness that a home brings is something that we are increasingly denying our children. In the pursuit of identifying and intellectually gaining knowledge of the world around us through screens and the internet, we fall short on the most important part of it all - to foster a meaningful emotional connection,” says Vimal.

A group of artists and Nature educators in Visakhapatnam have been actively participating in an initiative to observe International Nature Journaling Week, which is between June 1 and 7. The event, which originated in Australia, celebrates nature and brings together the worldwide community of journalers.

While many artists have been posting their Nature journaling entries for the week on social media, it is an exercise that goes beyond sketching and documenting. It is also about reconnecting with Nature.

For Vimal, who regularly conducts Nature walks for adults and children, the rustle of leaves and loud call of cicadas make him feel “at home”. He says, “We need a slow process of observing through all our senses and feeling the emotions that the experience evokes in us. Observing the colours, feeling the textures, the myriad smells and tastes and finally capturing that experience in the form of art, poetry and essays helps the child connect to the world, feel at home and in turn empathize with Nature and not think of himself as a separate entity but as part of Nature itself.”  

Vimal’s style of Nature journaling is purely observing and feeling. “A lot of things in Nature also help introspection and throw light on your thought, mind and body and how everything is interconnected,” he says. From an ant mimicking a spider and jumping around the ornamental palm leaves to fruit bats flying over a lake near Sontyam, he has captured the common sights in his surroundings this week, giving them a fresh perspective.

Artist and illustrator Richa Kedia has been Nature journaling since 2020. At first, the wildlife illustrator’s form of journaling focussed on different types of birds. “I have always found birds fascinating, especially their courting and nesting behaviour,” she says. In the recent past, her subject of observation has changed. “Now I find the world of insects mysterious and find many things to discover about them. The more I observe the more curious I become and I get more drawn into nature,” she adds.