Nabanita Saha

Urbanization & Changing Landscapes – Nabanita Saha

When we contemplate at contemporaneous civilization, often we introspect on our existence in past 5000 years. We inquire whether the anthropological commorancy have cumulated inordinately or are the transformations gradual. Change is an inevitable part of our humankind and we as earthling have excogitated through these changes and have affected the bionomics and environment at large. While contemplating on Indian civilization which started with Indus Valley Civilization which were developed beside Indus & Saraswati river.Later with the incoming of Aryans, Gangetic Civilization developed in India along river Ganges and its tributaries. Numerous other civilizations were developed beside the major rivers in India which capacitate us to infer that the human habitats curlicue around three sustainable elements – water, land and air.

As we progressed from different periods we are still dependent on these sustainable elements however with the rise in population we have rapidly urbanized. We are the current denizen of planet earth and are knowingly or unknowingly progressing towards unsustainable evolution. We have contemporary priority and disregard our eventual which will shortly become perilous for human existence. Our selfish actions are pushing our future generation for extinction.

My present project is on “Urbanization & changing landscapes of Navi Mumbai”. Mumbai was developed by unification of seven islands into a massive concrete jungle and changed the life cycle of the original inhabitants – Agri & Koli community. for habitat increased in Mumbai, a new city was created on barren land filled with salt water pans & fishing villages. Mumbai and its adjacent area was surrounded by water bodies and with rapid urbanization many of the water bodies were reclaimed and others were left polluted by industries which resulted in death of fishes and fishing by local Koli community became unsustainable. The salt pans and farmlands of Agri community was developed into concrete jungle and thus the Agri & Koli community have left their traditional jobs and joined the mainstream.

I am adopting the three sustainable elements of earth in my work, the land epitomized as mother (womb which gives birth), air epitomizes the aura of life and the water is the main lifeline through which humanity survives. We need to constitute a tranquility amongst these elements and should recognize that any asymmetry in these elements will create a catastrophe and abate our continuation.

My work addresses the burgeoning ecological asymmetry which the present generation is undergoing. This is culminated due to abuse of power, human greed and materialistic aspirations. I have tried to illustrate the human exploitation of macrocosm and the agony the flora and fauna. I have conveyed my apprehension related to ecology and environmental catastrophe through my work. I am passionate about nature and the continuous changes in the landscapes of Navi Mumbai have compelled me to take the concerns of environment and ecology to be my subject of creativity. I tried to create aesthetics in my work which I felt quite distinctive and goes well with my subject matter.

My medium of work is Oil on Canvas and I have integrated with charcoal and created a harmoniousblend of metaphorical changes in ecology resulting in changing landscapes with my creativity taking a role of a community member of aboriginal tribe entangled in the crossroads of development. My work continued to employ a variety of brush-strokes, techniques and color pallets to depict the subject matter thus evolving a unique style of naturalistic, impressionistic and simplified forms with heavy outlines, sharp contrasts and emotional composition to create an internal agitation amongst my subject matter. Thus, my work is evolved around the subject matter which symbolize their struggle and internal resistance in the content, depicting a state of mind rather than an extreme reality.

I am trying to create an awareness that due to expeditious evolution there is an inevitable ramification on environment which is conceiving asymmetry in ecology and ambivalence for our future generation. I am working on landscaping last 12 years and subject of work is related to environmental degradation. My endeavour is to document these changes and archive them through my work