Art show inspired by scientific research

Jamal Ara, an ornithologist and naturalist, is considered the ‘first bird woman of India’. She was recognised for her work studying birds in the Chota Nagpur plateau in Jharkhand. She was also a prolific writer. However, towards the end of her life, it is said that she set all her work on fire. In 2022, researcher Raza Kazmi tracked down her daughter Maduca Singh, and found a collection of her writings locked away in a cupboard. They were in pristine condition.It is one of these articles that was the starting point for artist Moomal’s exhibition ‘Into the scrub: After Jamal Ara’, which is currently on display at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Kodigehalli. The show is supported by a grant from India Foundation for the Arts.In a document titled ‘Into the scrub’, she writes about meeting her lover in the forest. She must walk through the scrub to reach him, so she describes the scrubs in detail. Scrubs are often overlooked and forgotten, yet Jamal Ara gave them attention, she notes. “This made me think about forgetting and indifference,” Moomal shares.The show comprises a total of seven pieces, focusing on the contribution of a number of scientists and naturalists of India. ‘Wandering with history (with a small h)’ is a work reflecting the correspondence networks from the NCBS archives. Beginning from 1915 and ending in 2025, it tracks the exchange of 8,509 letters between scientific, bureaucratic and legal professionals, through multi-hued lines.‘The scrub’ brings together three documents around grasslands. The first is an excerpt from Jamal Ara’s ‘Into the scrub’, while the second is an annotation that was found behind an image from the archives of late geneticist M S Swaminathan, and the third is a ledger bearing details of the management of private grasslands in Saurashtra. These three articles are accompanied with an audio recording of Ara’s writings on her search for the pink-headed duck.Moomal brings together observational drawings, field recordings, letters, and lab notes to create these artworks that also lay emphasis on typists, field workers, farmers, quarry workers, archivists and lab assistants.The exhibition is on display until November. Write to archives@ncbs.res.in to schedule your visit.

Source: Deccan Herald