Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) — Arko Datto visited LightWork’s Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery & Hallway Gallery to give a lecture on his exhibition in the gallery, “Shunyo Raja (Kings Bereft of Land)” on April 6. The gallery features works from the past nine years, as Datto took photos from around the Ganga River Delta, the world’s largest delta.
His photos focused mostly on the people that are dealing with the effects of climate change in the delta. Because of river erosion, many people have had to flee their houses or try to live off the land that is slowly deteriorating, Datto said.
The exhibition is separated into three chapters, which are Kings Of A Bereft Land, The Final Wave, and Terra Mutata. The first is focused on portraits and landscapes of the people and areas that have been severely affected by climate change. The second is much darker and colorful, and focuses on the surreal and manic affects that rising rivers are having on the communities on the Ganga River. In the final chapter, Datto switches to an infrared camera to show his subjects in a new way.
Datto said that much of his inspiration came from the people he interacted with on the delta itself.
“A lot of the people here are not rich, but they live well as long as they have some sort of land to live off from,” Datto said. “But once they lose their land the descent from 100 to zero is very fast.”
For many in the audience, the photos raised questions of how beauty could impact the message Datto is spreading about the severity of climate change. One member of the audience, Anshul Roy, a graduate photography student, said that Datto’s work rides the line of beautiful and powerful.
“Arko is a very interesting, conceptual artist,” Roy said. “This work shows that it has such deep ideas about using infrared film and how he conceptually tackles issues of representing climate change.”
Datto’s exhibition will be open to the public until Aug. 4.
