Thukral and Tagra serve ‘Bitter Nectar’ at Bikaner House

Experience Bitter Nectar at Bikaner House, an engaging exhibition exploring ecological issues through interactive art installations until February 15.

At Bitter Nectar, Sustaina India’s exhibition at Bikaner House, the installations are interactive and far from abstract or interpretative. Solve a puzzle on the apricot supply chain installation (Rē)Frame by visual artist Anuja Dasgupta, and you win 12 Ladakhi apricots! An animated video on a girl who finds it difficult to order something sustainable for her birthday, stays with you beyond the show. The “invisible bitterness” in our food that comes from labour, climate change or wildlife conflict, is made painfully obvious here.

Solving (Rē)Frame’s apricot supply chain puzzle

Another head-turner is Mari Vaadi Ma. Hundreds of tiny clay sculptures radiate outwards from an empty circle at the centre of the bright space. Their size forces you to get down on the ground... only to see that they are, in fact, a pride of 550 lions. By visual artist Mrugen Rathod, it hints at single-species conservation in Gujarat’s Gir forests, an ecological problem because it neglects ecosystem-level health, which is causing Asiatic lions to move out of their habitat and encroach onto nearby mango orchards. The aam-sher are made with soil from Gir.

A pride of 550 aam-sher made with soil from Gir

Sumir Tagra, of the artist designer duo Thukral & Tagra — who curated the exhibition with CEEW (Council of Energy, Environment and Water) — says this was intentional. “The aim is to literally ground art in reality,” says Tagra. The duo has also mentored the artists. “We haven’t used any walls and absolutely no art jargon. We want people to interact with the art, to understand it and take what they’ve learnt here, home.”

Thukral & Tagra