Warming up to the green issue

Global warming isn't a hot issue with just celebrities and environmentalists. Even artists are warming up to it. Artist Purnima Shanta Bhattacharya, whose exhibition The Inferno Within is currently on display at the Jehangir Art Gallery till March 24, is the latest artist to have joined the green brigade. She speaks to CS about the need to do so:

Nature's call
The cause is very close to my heart and I am concerned about what is happening to our planet. Earlier you would see sparrows from your window, now they're hardly visible. Since my husband was in the forces, I spent a lot of time in the Leh Ladhak Valley. But even that picture perfect place seems to have changed for the worse. I think it is time all of us woke up to this pressing concern. We don't even get up to switch off the lights these days. We want everything to be remote-controlled. I have done my bit to highlight this message through my current series. My work always carries a message. My earlier series was on the unity of religions and the influx of modernisation that is forcing us to forget our roots.

Colour code
Whatever is in my heart becomes an inspiration for me. I am a very colourful person, so most of my paintings will be vibrant. Like my name Purnima, that means a full moon, there is no darkness in my work. Nature and
adivasis are some of my other favourite subjects.

Charity first
But I believe in art for a cause. My husband and I have been supporting the children of the javans who have died fighting for our country. A part of the proceeds from my ongoing show will go for this cause. My heart goes out to these children. I don't like to call them orphans, so I tell them that they are the children of the heroes.