Painting with natural pigments on drowning land: the necessity of beauty in a new economy

ABSTRACT

This article draws on insights of young people learning to make natural pigments and traditional paintings in acute climate vulnerable areas. Why do they paint during ongoing crises and how do they voice their future concerns? Critical realism is applied as a meta-theory in this field-based study in a slum area in Kolkata and the Sundarbans mangrove forest. Methods comprise focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. Analysis was done in an abductive process, applying Roy Bhaskar’s model of ‘four-planar social being’. The analysis demonstrates how painting with natural pigments leads the young ones towards: (a) discovering beauty in nature (b) transcendence of borders (c) transformation and responsible action (d) discovering one’s own dignity. Findings are discussed considering the key concepts co-presence and crisis system. I reflect upon how this local effort can inspire a new economy, with the signposts: becoming co-present with the natural world and the necessity of beauty.

KEYWORDS:

• Crisis system
• co-presence
• natural pigments
• Economy of Francesco
• ecological literacy
• rethinking economics

Acknowledgements

A heartfelt thank you to the Economy of Francesco; especially everyone in the staff and in the Scientific Committee. Thank you also to Linda Staines for proofreading the article. Last, but not least, thank you to Wera Sæther for interpreting in the field and to all the participants for making this study possible!

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This has turned into a global movement, with concrete projects on all continents, such as in the agriculture sector (the Farm of Francesco) and book publications such an Economy of Francesco Glossary (Rozzoni and Limata 2022) and Rethinking Economics Starting from the Commons (Rotondi and Santori 2023). See also: https://francescoeconomy.org.

2 Towards the end of his life, Bhaskar pointed out that what mattered regarding the ‘success’ of his philosophy was whether his philosophical ideas were acted upon (Wilson 2015).

3 The philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940), for example, underlined that the sick has a special knowledge of the state of society (Kirkengen and Næss 2021, 15).

4 The subaltern, one could also say, with Gayatri Spivak (1988). For more on the history of people in the Sundarbans, see below and also Biswas (2021).

5 According to UNESCO (n.d.), it is the world's largest contiguous mangrove forest, and it has been inscribed on the World Heritage List since 1987 (Sundarbans National Park in India) and 1997 (The Sundarbans in Bangladesh). One of the mangroves’ abilities is to make use of both salt and fresh water, making them resistant towards rising sea water. The mangroves’ roots system also has a cleansing effect, filtering the water and preventing contamination. And while all trees store carbon, it has been claimed that the mangroves have a special high capacity; two to five times more than for instance tropical forests, such as the Amazone (Chatting et al. 2022).

6 Only on the Indian side of the Sundarbans, there are 104 islands, on which there are people on 54 of them (around 4.5 million); most are peasants and fishermen.

7 Three ontological levels are distinguished in this ontology: the empirical (with events that we can directly observe), the actual (with events and possibilities that are not necessarily observed or experienced by us), and the level of the real (where deeper mechanisms and structures that are causing the events originates) (Bhaskar 2016; Bhaskar et al. 2010; Price 2016).

8 Alienation is also what Hartmut Rosa (2021) argues is a crucial consequence of societal acceleration and the continuous experience of not being able to keep up with the tempo.

9 Biswas (2021) describes this part of the history more in detail.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria Jordet

Maria Jordet, PhD., is a psychologist and researcher at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences in the Department of Art and Cultural Studies. She recently defended her doctoral dissertation on voice, tradition and temporality based on a study among folk musicians and children in rural Bangladesh. Her main research interests concern how art can empower children and young ones in climate vulnerable areas and contribute to societal change. She is a Research Fellow in the Economy of Francesco Academy; an international and interdisciplinary network among young researchers working for a fairer and more sustainable economic system.