Sheba chhachhi biography

The National Institute of Design alumnus speaks about representing social concerns, experimenting with material and being a Citizen Artist. The award recognises artists who promote sustainability through their work. Much of your work is focused on the environment alongside issues of gender. If you could discuss this relationship that you have built between the two pursuits.

Biography. Sheba Chhachhi (born

Ecology is a feminist issue. I see these two concerns as deeply intertwined — for me, feminism is a political philosophy, a way of thinking and being that refuses a separation or a hierarchy between the personal and the political; nature and culture; body and mind; sexuality and spirituality, human and non-human — core ecological values.

In much of my recent work I have tried to bring back into the conversation ideas and images from pre-modern culture, which offer ecological wisdom, to reflect on the degradation of our environment, particularly that of Delhi and the River Yamuna. This has often taken the form of large public art projects. I am interested in creating pools of intimacy within public space — to open a conversation, to create the possibility of an encounter, an exchange and shared reflection.

As an artist, your research base covers a wide spectrum, from mythology to history, literature, Chinese landscapes, miniature tradition and science. If you could please talk about the confluence. Research is basic to my work method — I may start with an idea, or an image, and then begin to research and think around it, building a web of associations, or be held by something I read, and develop that into an artwork.

For instance, I follow new imaging technologies with great interest — from medical to satellite, and frequently visit sites such as NASA. Here I was struck by the eerie beauty of satellite images of ecological disasters. I began looking at satellite views of floods, earthquakes and droughts in South Asia, as a form of contemporary landscape.