A sculpture as part of the Ghosts, Monsters and Dreams exhibit by Adhithya Mohan
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“In aspiring to make Chennai a good city, we threw Ennore under the bus,” says environmental activist Nityanand Jayaraman.
Since early December, the deeply damaging oil spill and a gas leak at Ennore has manifested in the form of protests, research into the ecological impact of the oil spill and the people who have inhaled ammonia, as well as the several hundred pages of statistics delving into what went wrong.
Little however, has been said about the emotions of the people, particularly the fisherfolk, who have spent years noticing and documenting the slow yet steady degradation of groundwater, the loss of marine habitats and the disappearing Ennore Wetlands.
On January 26, 27 and 28, an art exhibition titled ‘Ghosts, Monsters and Dreams’, invites the people of Chennai city, living a comfortable 20 kilometres away from the location of the ecological mismanagement, to see what Ennore looks like today.
The team.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Curated under the ‘Good City’ project by the Coastal Resource Centre, it hopes to showcase sculptures and paintings by four Fine Arts college students — M Adhithya Mohan, M Elavarasan, S Kirubavathi and M Rajesh — who have spent time in the Ennore-Pulicat region, taking note of the narratives of the people, their beliefs and their dreams both within and beyond the ecological damage in the region.
Satwik Gade, the curator of the art exhibit, says that visitors will be able to see cartographic storytelling through vibrant maps displaying a changing Ennore landscape. There will also be sculptures of local deities and paintings that speak of Ennore as a ‘sacrificial zone’. The exhibit will also look at how the fishing grounds have transformed over the years.
Nithyanand adds that school students will be displaying a play titled Once There Was a River. A series of films shot by youngsters from the area like the Poisoned Playgrounds and Vadachennai Koothu, will be showcased as well.
An artwork part of the Ghosts, Monsters and Dreams exhibit by Dhavalya Sagar
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Ghosts, Monsters and Dreams is at Asvita’s Art Gallery, 2nd street, RK Salai, Mylapore on January 26 (3.30pm onwards), 27 and 28 (10am onwards). For details, contact 8807278544 or check @thegoodcity_ on Instagram.
