Folks Art Can Be a Effective Software for Conveying Biodiversity
On the edge of the town of Delhi stands the sprawling 286-acre campus of Shiv Nadar University, one of India’s Establishments of Eminence. The university features courses on numerous topics, together with natural science and engineering. Our campus is surrounded on a few sides by agricultural lands and a thriving lake, potentially surprising to some who may imagine of India’s funds as a concrete metropolis.
As a professor at the college, a person of us (Dutt) was struck early on by the biodiversity on campus. University scientists have painstakingly documented a complete of 354 plant species (234 wild and 120 cultivated). The faunal diversity is also prosperous, with 10 species of mammals, 65 species of birds, 9 species of reptiles, 5 species of amphibians and 54 species of butterflies that make the university their household.
However when I spoke with learners, I identified that they didn’t know about the great biodiversity all-around them or the initiatives the university was getting to safeguard it. For a long time, there was pretty much no signage on campus other than these that examine, “No throwing plastic in the lake” and “Beware of snakes.” Equally messages appeared significantly taken out from celebrating the flora and fauna on campus. As a science communicator, I wanted to do one thing about this.
We could have taken images of the distinct species present and installed signboards all above campus—universities this kind of as mine have a lot of naturalists on staff members educating and accomplishing research who could have aided. But I experienced a distinct plan.

Folks art can be a highly effective visible and nonverbal device for speaking complicated scientific concepts. I assumed, why not make use of this strategy as a way to display the university’s biodiversity? I hoped it would both create curiosity and most likely satisfaction. I reached out to a folks artist, Sudarshan Shaw, with the aim of making a biodiversity map of the university’s campus. He is perfectly recognised for illustrating biodiversity maps of the state of Andhra Pradesh that feature more than 55 species of flora and fauna in a regular model identified as kalamkari. Derived from the Hindi phrase kalam, which signifies pen, this variety of folks art consists of an intricate variety of painting onto cloth.
Sudarshan experienced also produced his to start with biodiversity map, which represented the state of Odisha, in the pattachitra style—a form of art said to be from the 12th century and used for depicting Hindu mythology on a patta, or canvas.
I (Shaw) was thrilled to be a part of the venture. When Bahar arrived up with her eyesight of creating a biodiversity map for an educational establishment, a university campus, it was a person-of-a-sort, farsighted and, most importantly, genuinely neighborhood. I instantly understood that we were aligned to strike a meaningful collaboration.
I imagine that real conservation advantages most from making use of community voices, language and heritage, and techniques, amongst other matters. The majority of people living in “busyscapes” do not detect nonhuman species. Bringing younger minds to notice that nature is not far absent but that it is discovered just about every day, almost everywhere, all all over us, and that we are an integral element of it—and kindling their rapidly withering curiosity, surprise and consciousness—would go a extended way in endorsing conservation.

With each other, we made the decision to make a biodiversity map of Shiv Nadar University in the Mughal fashion of artwork. This type of painting was usually confined to miniatures and was largely formulated in which Mughal kings dominated South Asia from the 1500s to the 1700s. I (Shaw) chose the Mughal style due to the fact the paintings I know demonstrate a harmonious imagery for the contrast that is wilderness nicely settled in and about architectural marvels. I built this link myself when I frequented the campus and observed the wild patches that have been authorized to flourish amid the architecturally articulate structures and its meticulously curated botanical garden. And Mughal miniature paintings feel to be 1 of the pretty few folks artwork types that stylize drawings closest to how flora and fauna forms really look, earning them much more scientifically correct, together with offering them a uniquely tranquil character and visual appeal. I took edge of the peaceful throughout the peak of COVID limitations to paint 50 or so species of birds, mammals and flora.
To make the map, we combined 3 disciplines—ecology (from the campus and its experts), communications and art—to arrive up with a ultimate item set up across the campus at distinct vantage points (these types of as the library, the hostel ) so that college students could end and discover about the all-natural earth about them.
We think this is the initial instance of generating a biodiversity map for a constructed setting. The map has now taken on numerous varieties. We sourced fabric from weavers in Banaras, India, whose textile models day back again hundreds of years, and printed the map on it to make a stole. When friends stop by the campus, we present them a stole as a sign of respect. It has grow to be a prized possession for each individual member of the Shiv Nadar local community.

Considering that the installation of the biodiversity maps at substantial places throughout the campus, learners have become much more knowledgeable of the biodiversity that surrounds them. Certainly, the maps have proved to be an outstanding recruiting device: a college student advised me (Dutt) in course that when she observed the maps on a tour before enrolling, she “realized this is the college [she] desired to study in and nowhere else.”
Scientific info can be weighty. It may well not access all audiences, particularly if persons haven’t had access to formal instruction. We have witnessed that using easy interaction equipment these kinds of as maps can create curiosity in nature. At Shiv Nadar University, this undertaking confirmed us that a nontypical visible software could be potent in speaking complicated terms to an urban, very well-educated target team although also building a positive mindset toward nature all over them. We invite other universities to take a look at how folkloric art can be a training resource in a time of weather transform and species loss. We imagine this kind of tasks will have a lasting impact on viewers when communicating concepts linked to science of biodiversity in an offbeat, unforgettable and responsible way.
This is an impression and analysis short article, and the views expressed by the creator or authors are not essentially people of Scientific American.