Toxic Colonialism and the Gesture of Generosity

Abstract

This article discusses the installations of visual artist, Krishnaraj Chonat, in which he draws our attention to transnational circuits of electronic waste. The e-waste dumped from first world nations on the shores of third world nations serves as material and concept for Krishnaraj Chonat’s critique of the transnational flows of electronic waste. His artworks encourage viewers to consider the highly toxic and risky ways in which recyclers scavenge metal parts from electronic waste. Chonat considers the ecological effects of the current urban preoccupations with innovation, speed and enhancement. What are the human, social and ecological consequences of the current valorization of innovation and its consequent cultures of disposal? How do people live with and in waste, and how does a culture of obsolescence render people as waste? How do artists make something new of these entanglements? By drawing sandalwood, artistic sketches and e-waste into an assemblage, Chonat’s poetic sculpture puts on display the global political economy of environmental racism.