VMH to showcase its flora and fauna with photo exhibition, ties up with UK museum

KOLKATA: Synthesising nature and culture, Victoria Memorial Hall is going to hold a nature and wildlife photography exhibition on Thursday, with a collection of biodiversity photos from its own grounds, paving the way for what the future of traditional heritage museums could look like — a space for environmental consciousness.
Talking about the significance of increasing the capacity of traditional museums to accommodate discussions on the environment, Indian Museum director Jayanta Sengupta said, “The idea behind this programme was to train youngsters as climate ambassadors.It is crucial now more than ever that we collaborate internationally to discover answers that benefit everyone in this time of climate change, biodiversity loss and epidemic.”
The project, a collaboration with Natural History Museum, London (NHM) and British Council, aimed at training 33 students and photography enthusiasts aged between 15 and 22 at a week-long workshop. “We reached out to schools and colleges in the state to nominate people from diverse backgrounds and skills. We were initially apprehensive about the response because of lingering Covid fears. But we were happy to see the students’ motivation. They had to report for field trips as early as 6am and did so enthusiastically,” Sengupta said.
The project is the first youth photography outreach programme by the NHM, both in India and the UK. Gemma Ward, Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition Manager at NHM, said the enthusiasm from the Kolkata trainees has encouraged her to spread the programme in the UK and other parts of the world. “Everybody wants to do their part in helping the climate emergency. This is a small way to engage communities, and spread awareness about the diverse biodiversities we have in our cities that we need to protect,” she said.
The trainees were mentored for six days by NHM Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition alumni, film-makers and conservationists to engage in dialogues on ecology and wildlife preservation in urban spaces. “It was amazing to watch people connect with local nature,” Ward said.
The exhibition of 115 photographs will be on for two months. The outreach programme, called ‘Young Minds for a Compassionate World’, is part of the British Council’s Season of Culture initiative — a festival of creative collaborations, and educational and cultural exchanges between the UK and India to mark 75 years of connections between the two countries. Director of British Council East and Northeast Debanjan Chakrabarti said, “It is especially important that the three themes of connect, share and create are running through this collaboration to engage people from both sides in this dialogue.”
“Victoria Memorial also has a collection of natural history paintings, which excite the imagination of those who visit,” Chakrabarti said.