Shifting Waters: Lenses on Mythology and Environmental Change in India

Join us for the opening reception of an exhibit by 2015-16 Kenan Graduate Arts Fellow Alex Cunningham, featuring a panel discussion on the issues raised by the artworks, as well as the official naming of West Duke 101. About the show:Although climate change is occurring at a historically fast rate, the geography and climate of the earth has never been unchanging. In the Indian subcontinent, which has been continuously inhabited by civilizations for thousands of years, religious texts, mythologies, and artifacts record a long history of the changing physical earth. As fast melting glaciers and recent variability in the monsoon show us today, change remains constant. This exhibit examines some of the ways the physical and spiritual landscape of India have intersected over time, raising questions about how we understand the current climactic moment of inflection and can prepare for a future of shifted water. About the panel:What are we to make of environmental change? We see clear evidence of dramatic climactic shifts in recent years: receding glaciers and the increasingly erratic arrival of seasonal rains. And yet, ascribing meaning and context to these phenomena is hardly straightforward. In India, Hindu spirituality and a long civilizational time horizon offer alternative insights on the current moment and its implications than news of the climate crisis might suggest. Join us for a nuanced conversation about water, environment, Hinduism, and climate change.