Bhopal: A Silent Picture

Speakers: Samar Singh Jodha, Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra and Sanjay Verma
Discussant: Bittu Sahgal
In association with The Fine Art Company, Mumbai

December 18, 2009 | 6.30 pm
Little Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai

The Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 remains the world’s biggest industrial disaster. The leakage of 42 tons of lethal methyl isocyanate by the Union Carbide plant on the night of 2nd December and early morning of 3rd, exposed 528,125 people, immediately killing 2,259. More than 25,000 have since died from the after-effects of that exposure.

The photographs in this forty-foot multimedia installation have been shot at the now sealed Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal (India) that continues to poison the soil, air and water of its surrounding areas. The images portray an eerie emptiness – comparable to the Nazi gas chambers of Auschwitz. However, unlike Auschwitz, the perpetrators of this crime continue to walk free. The victims – largely poor people, continue to be denied fair compensation, adequate health care or legal redressal. Worse, they are forced behind a veil of indifference and enforced silence. This installation also hints at this state of affairs with a shroud bearing names and file numbers of some of the victims’ that envelops them in anonymity.

Samar Singh Jodha is a photographer and installation artist who, over the last 25 years, has been using photography, film and public art projects to address various issues such as community development and conservation, including doing photography workshops with children in conflict.

Satinath Sarangi is a social activist based in Bhopal since 1984. He has been involved with multiple activities run by a network of local, national and international groups, pursuing health and economic needs, fighting legal claims, providing medical support and reminding the world that the Bhopal disaster of 1984 happened. Sarangi is the founder and manager of the Sambhavna Trust.

Rachna Dhingra is a social activist working in Bhopal with the survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy. As a member of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action for the last 10 years, she has taken part in legal actions, protest demonstrations and media presentations on issues of the disaster in Bhopal locally, nationally and internationally.

Sanjay Verma is a Bhopal survivor and activist and since 2004, he is involved in raising awareness about this tragedy through campaigns and legal activities.

Bittu Sahgal, an environmental activist and writer, is the founding editor of Sanctuary Asia, a wildlife and ecology magazine based in India. He is a member of the National Board for Wildlife of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.