Gorilla by Bula Chakravarty Agbo
Randomly one morning it came to me that I want to do a 100 DAY CHALLENGE; no thought as to what that could mean in terms of time, subject matter, convenience, commitment or any such like.
Sitting on the decking of our newly landscaped back garden, which had taken all of the lockdown months and more, I watched a bumble bee buzzing in and out of the lobelias in the sunshine without a care in the world. Or so it seemed to me, until I focused on that bee and thought of what it’s obstacles and struggles might be. It made me think of the pesticide the UK government have permitted to be used despite their promise of not using harmful agents and an EU ban, as it is believed to kill bees, pollute the rivers, streams and no doubt the environment too. Here’s the link to the article published in the newspaper on 9th Jan 2021.
So here I am, twenty-eight days in and the act of drawing has become a daily meditation accompanied with the revelation of what really is the status quo for life on earth now.
During the 1980s I was doing my BFA and MFA at Viswa Bharati University, India, which was also an ashram far away from traffic, pollution etc. I naively thought I would never let politics seep into my work and adulterate it. The daily outdoor sketchings of water buffalos, goats, dogs, flora and fauna and Santhal villagers were my world. Forty years on life in the 21st Century is proving to be very different. Whilst technologically we have developed exponentially, ethically humankind have regressed to a state where nature is fighting for survival and fast taking back many species from the plant, fungi and animal kingdom of our planet.
The IUCN Red List (International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species) states that more than 37,400 species are threatened with extinction. There are many more evidence-based researches done by other organisations, amongst which the WWF do some incredible work.
I still however feel that my art is not politically motivated but led by intuition and consciousness. My love and awareness of the sentient world we live in is what motivates and inspires me. Whenever I look into the eyes of an animal, insect, bird and even an earthworm, I am transported to the very heart and soul of that being. A feeling that intensified when I got attuned to Atlantean healing with Birkan Tore, which was soon followed by a visit to the jungles of Peru. Working with the indigenous shamans helped further deepen my understanding of mother nature and how she works with and through us.
Art has been my first passion and everything else is an extension of that. Working in black and white provokes a primal feeling, a purity that can be conveyed by none other, where depth and subtly coexist in harmony, and struggles of having to overthink evaporates. As the sun rises and the day begins, we know too, that dusk will be followed by night and I shall awake to be challenged by another drawing…
“I work intuitively, guided by internal necessity”,
If you’re interested you can find info about the two drawings, Plains Bison and the Cross River Gorilla on Instagram @bulachakravartyagbo
“If we don’t get serious about saving these spectacular species, it’s quite likely that many won’t be around in the years to come.”
Bison
