Disko Valley's art exhibit
Leh's 20-acre Disko Valley Bike Park turned into a haven of land art with Sā Ladakh, building awareness around climate change and fostering connections across borders. At a height of 3600m, climate, culture and community took centre stage as artists turned the expansive Himalayan landscape into a canvas and weaved narratives, voiced their concerns and dove into their interpretations of climate optimism. The 23-day-long festival, founded by Ladakhi mountaineer Tenzing 'Jammy' Jamyang, Austrian-Sri Lankan artist Raki Nikahetiya and Indian designer Sagardeep Singh, comes to a close today.
A community of artists come together at Sā Ladakh
Local communities come together with artists
The Sā community grew wider with locals, artists in the region, NGOs and schools joining the bandwagon. Local Futures, an NPO, have been working for over three decades in supporting the local economy, preserving cultural knowledge and mindful travel, as the influx of tourists keeps on increasing and homestays are mushrooming across Ladakh. The members helped Sā volunteers to source renewable, recycled and sustainable materials for installations.
We need to respect nature: Vibha Galhotra
The exhibits from various artists voice the concern surrounding nature and the climate crisis. Vibha Galhotra, an internationally acclaimed conceptual artist, spoke about her installation 'You Don't Own Me', and said, "This text-based work is an extension of what I have been doing with my art all these years. I intuitively feel the pain of nature. We need to respect nature. It has been my mission to talk about climate change for the last 12 years. As an artist, I will try to nudge questions in people's mind. It is difficult to bring people to art galleries, we need to work towards changing the behaviour of people towards art as it is a very powerful tool for change."
Anayat Ali's Balance of life
A view at co-habitation as a solution
Lens-based artist Sharbendu De's video works An Elegy For Ecology and Imagined Homeland were projected onto the mountain, evoking many questions regarding our existence, the current climate crisis and the dystopian future. Talking about it, he said, "With two of these research-based works I look at how co-habitation is a solution to the crisis we are living in today. In the first work, I start to imagine what the future might look like if we don't act today and in the second, I have documented the Lisu Tribe of Arunanchal Pradesh, who are living happily amid nature. Post-COVID, imagining dystopia is easy."
Fostering art appreciation among young students
Stanzin Norzum, the Principal of one of the participating schools, said, "Beside textbooks, children need a taste of everything around them - their culture, art, food. I thank Sā and Local Futures to have given me hope that art and art-appreciation can become a part of their lives. It was a great exposure to our students."
Students invited at the Sa outreach community
As a part of the community outreach initiative, Sā invited school children in Leh to engage with these land artworks and also touchbase with their traditions and culture. A student Sabrina, who visited a village with team Sā to witness traditional farming practices in a nearby village and also the exhibition, said, "Taking a look back at the village made me realise that they are still preserving their culture and so should we. Sā was a big experience for me, as it makes me want to know more about our traditional art, lifestyle, food, dance and more."
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