Nature, Interrupted

What does it mean to order the environment and tame the wild? Sarasija Subramanian and Astha Patel explore the politics of devious design, discovers Sandhya Bordewekar.

- Sandhya Bordewekar

The manipulation of nature is the focus of artworks produced by Sarasija Subramanian and Astha Patel, both of whom have studied in Baroda. They are currently working in Bangalore and Baroda respectively. Their approach to the subject, however, is vastly different – while Subramanian explores existing encyclopedic/historic/colonial narratives to understand their implications on human behaviour, Patel gets to the point directly, creating natural imagery that is apparently soothing but seething with tumult.

Subramanian’s engagement with the cultural philosophy of a ‘third space’ (where the natural and the manmade meet) began as a post-graduate student in 2017. This research enquiry and archiving continues to be extended in her projects that include alternative narratives related to biodiversity (“where does it exist, really?”) as well as a critique of the unbridled colonial desire to tame the natural and of the vulnerability of scientific systems in an encounter with myths and beliefs of communities.

Poisonous plants that could paralyze and kill became the focus of her Lotophagi exhibition, exploring the historico-mythical Lotus Eaters from the classic Odyssey.