Reflection

Reflection

Gone are the days where kids could only urge adults to take action on climate change. We are in the center of it now and it is as much of our own responsibility. I used acrylic on canvas to create “Enlightened World”. I started with balloons of hope with each of the five balloons illustrating an initiative undertaken by kids. I am already deeply involved in fighting climate change through my venture ”Enlighten," an initiative that helps bring clean energy and water to those without it. The first green balloon shows ‘us’ at “Enlighten” changing the world‘s energy to renewable. Painting the earth green, changing parking lots to parks, unfurling the flag of nature, and planting trees are some of the other initiatives in the balloons. I used vibrant bright colours to convey hope. I decided to use silhouettes to convey human figures as I have seen many of these on buildings in European countries when I travel for my chess tournaments. Next, I wanted to show Mother Earth recovered and happy. The character of Te Fiti from the movie "Moana" inspired me to show her as a human figure. The movies "Lion King" and "Madagascar" inspired my continuation to show a happy earth of animals and trees. At the bottom, the continuation of our happy water bodies was inspired by "Finding Nemo". I hadn't yet shown my national pride in my creation through an Indian element, so I decided to use village art from India to create a colourful peacock (our national bird) with flowers and leaves. The tiny child activists filled the streets in my canvas with placards. When I was painting “Enlightened World," I had the song “Circle Of Life” humming through my mind continuously. This painting truly conveys the human spirit, our resilience and our ability to fight with anything. It reminds the viewer how beautiful our planet is and why it must not only be preserved but restored to its original beauty. The balloons tell us it is OUR actions that will bring about this change and the tiny activists connote that we must not stop at just doing our bit. We must raise awareness relentlessly and convert each human on the planet to a believer of climate action.