“THE USE OF HYBRID SEEDS IS NOT ECOLOGICALLY VIABLE”
SHWETA BHATTAD, 32, Contemporary artist-activist, Nagpur
In 2016, contemporary artist-activist Shweta Bhattad, 32, buried herself in a coffin for three hours during an art residency camp to highlight the exploitation of land and marginal farmers in India. In December 2017, she brought together artists, writer, farmers and singers at Paradsinga, a fairly nondescript village in Madhya Pradesh, to create art works—all made of leafy crops— over 24,000 sq feet of farmland. It was India’s first ever land art festival conceptualised and led by Bhattad. “Art brings people together and helps them express things in a way that no language can,” she says. Inspired by India’s agricultural heritage and the problems of modern farming methods, Bhattad, an alumnus of MS University, Baroda, has been using offbeat forms of art to draw attention to her cause—farmers and the importance of indigenous seeds. “I always wondered why a farmer, who grows so many crops, often does not have enough food to feed his family.” Bhattad is determined to take art “outside galleries to the masses”. She runs the Gram Art Project which holds art residencies and events that spread awareness on issues such as the perils of hybrid crops, the importance of using indigenous seeds and water conservation. In the winter of 2016, the artist made a 7,000 sq feet land portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi using locally grown crops like spinach, amaranthus and fenugreek as part of the Gram Dhara Chitra Utsav. “It was to urge him to restrict the use of hybrid seeds which aren’t ecologically viable,” she says.
An advocate of sustainable farming and indigenous seeds, Bhattad uses art forms to unite people and raise awareness. The Gram Art Project collaborated with indigenous cotton growers, spinners of Wardha and 50 village women to make handmade rakhis. While the spinners turned indigenous cotton into thread, 50 women from Paradsinga village, led by a local student Nutan Dwivedi, 18, fashioned this yarn into 7,000 rakhis. Each held a seed of a local cotton variety. “Young farmers are willing to experiment but most rarely interact. Art brings them together to spread a message,” she says.