Initiation of AgriForum by FICA and Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation
About
AgriForum took off as an online forum in October 2021. FICA (Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art) ran this forum in collaboration with Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation, later developing into an exhibition display at Vadehra Art Gallery. The Forum was envisioned as a space for presenting and gathering contemporary enquiries into the agrarian. They initiated a dialogue with 12 practitioners working with the agrarian across media, form and function, to encourage processes of sharing and accumulation, drawing into its fray various vocabularies at the intersections of artistic practice and agriculture. Responding to a necessity in the field, the forum attempted to create a network of locally-rooted practitioners from different locations, inviting them to read and discuss together the concerns they share. Positioning this act of convening within a virtual space of convergence, criticality and dissemination, the Forum hoped to also amplify socio-political and cultural issues at hand, including but not limited to themes around sustainability, the environment, food security and our relationship to natural resources.
Projects supported under the aegis of AgriForum
Vanishing Spices Project by Sujit Mallik
A small team consisting of practitioners Krushna Chandra Sahu, Sujit Mallik and Umesh Chandra Nayak, started with an idea of dinner with friends and presenting the decided/imagined acts, discussions and exhibitions at the Saagwala farm in Jawli village, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. This coming together of friends and colleagues provoked many group enquiries on soil composition of the area and thoughts on the ground itself in terms of the horizons that they offer us. Sessions included investigations into soil studies, exploration of seed cultures, inhabitation of moss, and more.
Collaborators included: Aman Prajapat, Anish Cherian, Vibhu Pattnaik, Bhagwati Prasad, Dinesh Prajapat, Irfan Alam, Gopal Samataray, Rakesh Rattan Nath, Raj Kumar Mohanty, Kush Sethi, Niroj Satpathy, and Poonam Singh.
Experiments with Crop Residue Management by Gram Art Project
Gram Art Project consists of a collective of farmers, artists, women, makers, who are situated in Paradsinga village, in Sausar Tehsil of Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh, India. They seek to comment on issues of progress, sustainability and labour, through modes and media of expressions that are socially and ecologically non-exploitative. Their methods include land art, farm-sourced handmade material, waste recycling and working with crop residue. For this particular project they experiment with crop residue and other farm produce in order to create new forms and further documentation. Their experimentations have led to the utmost utilisation of the Roselle crop.
Seed Pods by CF John
The first creative workshop under Seed Pods was held in March 2022 at the government
high school and British bungalow, Tholpetti, Waynad, Kerala. The workshops aim to kindle and foster poetic perceptions of Soil, Seeds and Life, in the context of agriculture, a culture of mutual fecundity with the earth. Initiating a process of nurturing a culture of coexistence with the earth, where the soil they walk becomes once again a creative and fertile matter. Engaging with high-school and higher secondary classes, a team of six creative people from different disciplines helped initiate the students to creatively engage with aspects of nature and find their expression through three different mediums, such as play, story, and poetry.
River Project by Blaise Joseph in collaboration with River Research Centre
As part of the ongoing campaign programmes for the River Project in the river basin of Chalakkudy and the floodplain of Pampa River, the team have started working on interventions such as artworks, posters, and installations in the river basin. As art educator and practitioner, Blaise Josepeh visited the Varaachaal to document the floodplain and the details of its landscape, memories of people residing in this region. In order to connect children to Varaalchaal and its ethos, he facilitated five school going students to sit around Varaalchaal and observe its characteristics and draw them. Public murals and installations, along with graffiti works are intervening in an attempt to generate conversations within the locality.
Pat Gaon Project by Anga Art Collective
Engaging with the ecological setup of Pat Gaon village in Assam, Anga Art Collective looks at the importance of understanding the intricacies of the elephant corridor in the region. Their research explorations as an artistic collective have led them to conduct initial research around the natural corridor, including the natural evidence that are present upon investigation, along with stories and knowledge being imparted by the local community. Their ongoing project has led them to create artistic interventions including research around vegetation in the forest, documenting folklore, understanding the tendencies of elephants, drawings and handmade books from their research. Their fieldwork will involve more documentation of local stories and knowledges.
