Echoes from bhopal
Amidst the euphoria around the London Olympics, also standing tall to make a point would be artist Samar Jodha’s mammoth, seven-tonn multi-sensory installation, which will be displayed on the sidelines of the mega sporting event.
The installation, “Bhopal, A Silent Picture”, presented by Amnesty International, revisits the Bhopal gas tragedy and highlights the trail of trauma it has left behind after 28 years. It also highlights the unpalatable sponsorship agreement between the Dow Chemicals and London Olympics.
Jodha feels that the event of that one wintry night continues to resonate in the broken lives of those who survived it, and his artwork attempts to recreate that fateful night. “The silence of the cold night is pierced only by sound of the crickets and the humming chemical plant in the distance. The deadly gas travelling through various chambers, until it leaks into the air is heard next. This alternates with the plant’s sounds. After all, neither was any machinery shut down nor any emergency sirens heard, and it seemed business as usual at the plant,” he says. “What follows is the breathlessness of the very first victim of the greatest industrial disaster. Following his gasp is silence — of death, indifference and political-corporate callousness,” adds Jodha, who has been using artistic medium, particularly photography as a tool of advocacy.
Giving a feel of the installation, Jodha says, “A 40-foot fabric wall hints at the state of affairs with a shroud bearing names and file numbers of some of the victims that envelops them in anonymity. The temperature controlled environment, low lights and soundscape reflect what happened in Bhopal on the night of December 2, 1984.”
Jodha’s first exposure to this plant was in 2004 while working on a print campaign on the 20 years of Bhopal disaster. “General public is not let inside the sealed plant. After figuring out the way to get through the bureaucracy and being done with paperwork, I finally got the requisite permission. I made few trips into it. I also had the privilege to see the amazing work some of the NGOs have done with the communities around the plant. But seeing first hand the control rooms, defunct machinery, storage areas had an everlasting impression on me. One that has progressed over time on the creation of this installation,” he says.
“My concerns are not so much about the specifics of this event, but the larger questions about our shared humanity. Hence, my work is not marked by bald photojournalistic reportage or shrill activism, but by a quiet reflection,” he adds.
The installation measuring, 40 feet and weighing over seven tonnes, has been fabricated in Oxford London. And contains elements created across Mumbai and Delhi. The installation has travelled to New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in 2011. Over 95,000 people visited this project in Mumbai in a week, making it the largest ever-viewed public art project in India. After London, the installation will travel through Europe over the next two years.
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