Kulpreet Singh’s ‘Extinction Archive’ at India Art Fair

Coloured drawings of over 900 threatened animal fungal and plant species painted on pesticidedipped rice paper is artist Kulpreet Singhs attempt at posing the question With the speed we are moving where will we reachThe square panels with ash from stubble burning sandwiched between rice paper and laser dots reflecting the uncountable deaths across species including human form Singhs latest project Extinction Archive at the ongoing 17th India Art Fair hereWhen we think about it its just a word extinction But these are memories that are not present any more We are not just archiving species that have gone extinct but its an archive of how we are continuing to ruin things for everyone Singh told PTIThe work commissioned and presented by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art serves as a memorial to ecological and social violence offering a contemplative visual archive of the declining environmentSinghs project is formed by a semicircular wall of nearly a thousand square panels As one stands inside it the extinction of the projected species seems imminent the shots of pollutioncausing events including farm fires garbage in the Yamuna river and the garbage mountains of Delhi paint the picture of a dark futureI am archiving how the environment has been transformed You see there is no clean air in the whole of Delhi in India and even in the whole world How carbon pollution is increasing in the whole world people are suffering from diseases By showing these elements of the environment that are extinct now I hope that maybe someone will see this and feel that one day we will also become extinct the Patialabased artist saidThe 40yearold asserts that the elements of nature the land rivers and wildlife are slowly slipping out of the collective consciousnessThere are so many things that exist only in imagination now Some animal or bird that we saw as a child can only be found in imagination now When we talk about a clean environment we enter some imagined scenarios he saidSeveral extinct and endangered species drawn from the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature find themselves on Singhs panels including the Mauritian giant skink the land snail carelia mirabilis the white blotched shrub frog the angled flat top snail and the harvestman species Hirstienus nanusThe plight of farmers and issues relating to agriculture remain a conscious part of Singhs practiceAn earlier work by the visual artist titled Indelible Black Marks at the ongoing KochiMuziris Biennale questioned the politics around stubble burning when many pollutantinducing human activities like industries traffic and wars remained undeterredThis work is connected with farmers I am using stubble ash rice paper shots of farm fires and the use of pesticides I want to bring in the farmers who have killed themselves I want to make them a part of this work The way we have ruined the environment its the farmer who is facing the brunt of it Singh saidThis is about the farmer In some way or the other whats inside me is going to come outEach panel is marked by an uncountable number of holes made by laser large and small representing in their collectiveness all the deaths across species due to different manmade crisesYou hear about millions of people dying every year because of climate change pollution food poisoning and so on these dots are those deaths You cannot count them he saidThe reality of life is to convert into ash and return to the earthIt is about that The ash residue is what we are leaving behind for the generations to come Singh addedThe work is ongoing as the artist plans on adding more species that are on the verge of extinctionEveryday I am finding more about species that have gone extinct or are endangered I am going to keep adding them to this project he saidIndia Art Fair running at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds in Okhla will come to a close on February 8This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever