Sustaina India Art Exhibition at STIR Art Gallery
The 2nd edition of Sustaina India is on the rise. The second edition show, curated by Thukral & Tagra + Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi is organised by Milan George Jacob, Mihir Shah, Vidusshi Pathak, Shruthi Pillai of CEEW (Council on Energy, Environment and Water). This year, Sustaina India sounds off with “With each seed, we sing.’’ It aims to reshape our perception of the elements of daily life, such as food, clothing, and waste.
Highlighting the importance of community-led initiatives, this edition will begin on 2nd February 2025. It can be viewed till 16 February 2025 at STIR Art Gallery, New Delhi. The show will open with a preview on 1st February 2025. This is a contemporary art exhibition where science meets art to inspire collective climate action for sustainable livelihoods and climate action. This year marks the debut of Sustaina Weekends, which activates the space in multiple ways. Let’s engage with the discourse on climate change and sustainability through storytelling sessions, panel discussions, sharing circles, workshops, quizzes, and thematic days.
What is the 2nd Edition of Sustaina India All About?
Sustaina India anchors the conversations around climate through art. Research by CEEW shows shifting climate patterns. This has deeply affected the nationwide communities. Yet, there are also opportunities emerging that can lead to jobs, growth and sustainability, such as leveraging the circular economy to repurpose waste and promoting sustainable lifestyles and climate resilient agriculture, from textiles to millets. Drawing on these intersections, the second edition of Sustaina India will feature three Fellows.
Artworks and Projects Featured at This Contemporary Art Exhibition
You may view the art projects of Sustaina Fellows Shubhi Sachan’s Material Library of India, Poludas Nagendra Satish’s Kora Design Collaborative, and Saraswathi Malluvalasa’s Arogya Millet Sisters. Invited artists include Chander Haat, Edible Issues, Sheshadev Sagria, and Climate Recipes – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Edition.
Shubhi Sachan’s Practice
Shubhi Sachan, founder of the Material Library of India is based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The organisation’s core ethos is to develop material literacy across demographics. Interacting with varied waste from post-industrial to agricultural, the Library’s work replicates the material’s complexity. They research alternative uses for materials and introduce new and effective waste disposal methods. This time around, Shubhi Sachan will embed her mission with an interactive installation.
M. Saraswathi Practice in Sustaina India
M. Saraswathi, Secretary of SABALA (Society for Awareness and Betterment of Agricultural Livelihoods) and founder of the Arogya Millet Sisters Network, is based near Vizainagaram. Through her missions, she empowers rural women through sustainable farming practices.
Under her leadership, SABALA rejuvenated millet cultivation across 1,500 acres in 50 villages. M. Saraswathi advocated for millet inclusion in public distribution systems to enhance nutrition and food security. Their 3000 farmers network includes 50% tribal communities and 20% Dalit partners. This year at Sustaina India, Saraswati will present an interactive story of the Millet Sisters through installations using their homegrown millets, and folk songs.
Poludas Nagendra Sathis’s Art Style
Poludas Nagendra Satish, founder of Kora Design Collaborative and based in Hyderabad, is a designer and advocate for sustainable practices with extensive experience in the textile and craft sectors. Graduating from NID, Ahmedabad, pushed Satish to combine traditional craftsmanship with ecological design to address environmental and community challenges.
Poludas Nagendra Satish’s projects have empowered local artisans by promoting sustainable, culturally significant practices, such as Warangal Dhurries. This year, Satish jots the journey of the indigenous cotton through its materiality and surface. It will make you think of the lost cotton quality and the associated farming communities.
More Participants at Sustaina India
The contemporary art exhibition will also host Chander Haat, Edible Issues and others. These artists bring dialogues surrounding water, food and women’s empowerment. You can also view films, installations, drawings, performances, and panels.
Thukral & Tagra on Sustainable Art Practices
Thukral & Tagra, co-curators of Sustaina India, said, “With climate crises becoming increasingly evident, Sustaina India emerges as a unique platform curated by experts from diverse fields, including CEEW and us as artists. In its second edition, the platform aims to foster a commune of practices that spotlight innovative and essential interventions for addressing the pressing challenges of our time. The practices of all three fellows reflect a profound sensitivity to environmental change, focusing on identifying and addressing nuances often overlooked. Their thoughtful approaches pave the way for deeper conversations and impactful action.”
Mihir Shah on the Environmental Art Trend
Mihir Shah, Director of Strategic Communications at CEEW, observed “Sustaina India 2025 recognises that effective climate action must be rooted in the communities themselves. By amplifying grassroots voices and celebrating a range of innovations, the second edition of Sustaina India aims to showcase a mosaic of climate solutions that are as diverse as the communities they serve.”
Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi on the Climate Change Art
Co-curator Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi describes the tumultuous times and the environmental art trends. “There is an urgent need to break down the jargon of sustainability and introduce the public to stories and processes that speak about its lived essence. This edition of Sustaina is a step in this direction where we bring in depth understanding of our food, clothing, and waste systems. We advocate for community-led and community-oriented action that sees every opportunity as a seed for change. ”
About Sustaina India
Sustaina India stems from this urgency to catalyse pollinations across art, science, and policy-making through annual fellowships, exhibitions, and public programs. A first-of-its-kind initiative of Thukral & Tagra and the CEEW, Sustaina India mobilises creators to integrate decentralised climate awareness and sustainability conversations into the cultural fabric of India and beyond.
About CEEW
The Council on Energy, Environment and Water—a homegrown institution with headquarters in New Delhi—is among the world’s leading climate think tanks. It uses data, integrated analysis, and strategic outreach to explain and modify, the use, reuse, and misuse of resources. In CEEW’s fourteen operational years, it has impacted over 400 million lives across 20 stateS.
About Thukral & Tagra
Thukral & Tagra are a Delhi-based artist duo comprising Jiten Thukral (b. 1976, Jalandhar, Punjab) and Sumir Tagra (b. 1979, New Delhi). Driven by the artistic methodologies of painting, gaming, archiving, and publishing, their multifaceted studio practice reflects the scope of engagement in the cultural and political landscape of India and the world. While their early career work dealt with the intricacies of consumer culture globally, their recent interest in ecology and climate change is a revisiting of their family histories of migration and farming in the Indian state of Punjab.
A solo show of their paintings Arboretum will open at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, USA on September 26th, and they will curate the visual arts section at the upcoming edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa in December of this year.
About Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi
Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi is an independent curator based in New Delhi. His curatorial work unpacks the relationship between art and the constitution of public memory. He is currently the Principal Investigator at the experimental arts lab Pollinator.io and a visiting professor at Ashoka University, Sonipat.
Image Courtesy – Poludas Nagendra Sathis
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