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Progress report

PHOTO: SAMPATH KUMAR G.P.

I spy Rahel Hegnauer: ‘Initially, my photographs were taken through the tourist’s eyes’

Visual artist Rahel Hegnauer cycled around Bangalore and noticed many construction sites and freshly-cut tree trunks.

The Swiss artist in residence came to the city from New Delhi after working on the Yamuna River. Like for many others, Bangalore is a big contrast.

“The trees which ought to be representative of the people and how they live have been cut to make way for a symbol of progress.” Rahel’s photo exhibition “Tree trunks and fly-overs” was recently held at Shanthi gallery.

Rahel also captured a photo of a banyan tree in a temple whose branch was chopped to make way for a flyover. Says Rahel, who studied Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland and her M.A. in Art in the Public Sphere at Lucerne in Switzerland, said: “These trees are sacred and they provide vital meaning.” She felt that cutting trees is the easiest and cheapest way out when there is an urban development budget to look at. “It is necessary to find solution to ease traffic congestion, but cutting trees is not the only way out.”

“It is a clash of two ways of living, of nature versus urbanity.” She feels that trees have now become alien elements in the city.

Rahel is interested in using the public space of hoardings to display her photographs of cut tree trunks. “I hope that people can make the connection, become aware and react to what is happening in the name of development.”

Interestingly, she has also taken photos of constructions that are half-destroyed in the road-widening plan. “I don’t only like to capture nice, beautiful things.”

For someone who has been working in the visual arts for 14 years, Rahel feels that she has become open to different points of views after living in Tunisia. “Initially, my photographs were taken through the tourist’s eyes.” She feels that in India, much of life is conducted outdoors, rather than indoors.

With only a week more in Bangalore, Rahel will miss the liveliness of the city when she returns to her quiet country. She also hopes that there will be sustained efforts to allocate dedicated lanes to cyclists, people use less private transport and carpool. “I will also miss the large trees — the trees back home aren’t this big.”

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