In Conversation With Swadha Pardesi - Part I

Wild We Stand Programme Director, Camoya Evans, interviews Swadha Pardesi, a digital illustrator from India. Swadha discusses her shift from wildlife filmmaking to illustration, focusing on nature and wildlife conservation. She highlights her work with Let India Breathe and her new collective, City of Birds, which aims to diversify the birding community in Udaipur. Swadha emphasises the importance of community, representation, and the interconnectedness of nature. She shares her journey of self-discovery and acceptance as a neurodivergent individual, advocating for inclusive spaces in conservation. Swadha envisions a future of intentional, sustainable communities, emphasising collective action.

Q: How would you describe your relationship with nature and wildlife? What made you decide to become a conservationist?

Nature is the most fascinating thing on the planet. There's nothing else that is that fascinating. From my perspective on nature and wildlife, I view evolution as an algorithm. Based on the line 'Nature had one tool, which was the mistake.' And that's a general overview of how evolution worked, right? It was just about seeing what's working. Okay, it's not working. It dies. You know, of course, there are other things too. But how do you exist right now, to be able to witness so many different habitats? For instance, when you go into a forest or a wetland, you try to understand each organism. Then you think about how it came into being, which is when you get into evolutionary biology. And that is one extremely fascinating subject.

So this way, when you look at the fact that the Earth's topography, its land forms, which is geomorphology, has been evolving so much in the last whatever million years. So much had to happen for these different habitats and niches to exist, for each of these organisms to exist. And now you can walk into it and witness all of this. So for me, it's extremely interesting. It's very fascinating. It's also sacred to a level.

Q: Can you talk about the evolution of your artwork? The earlier sections of your portfolio showcase illustrations that are a bit more simplistic, looking at a specific animal or plant. And then there's an increase in the inclusion of humans, industries, and the representation of justice. Do you feel that to be true about your work and evolution as an artist?

If you saw all my work on my Instagram chronologically, from way earlier in 2020 to now, you would see my artistic style evolving, but politics has always been a part of it. In 2020, we were all on social media, and that's when I started understanding all these eco campaigns that were emerging. Of course, the campaigns always existed, but I had all the time in the world. I was teaching myself everything about conservation and environmental movements in India, while also learning art and digital painting.

So, while politics have been present within my illustrations, my own strengths and skills as an illustrator, particularly in communicating visually, have been growing. The illustrations you see focus on one animal, one habitat, and one plant is a reflection of my scientific knowledge deepening, but the politics has always been there. In fact, I was able to show the political aspect more than I could have, because there were illustrations where I had room to showcase that, or they were illustrations I created for myself. On my Instagram, you'll find a very old painting of a person's eye. Below it, there are fossil fuel chimneys blowing smoke and all the bleached corals. And it's a very simplistic piece of artwork, but I never found people who actually love that artwork until I joined Let India Breathe. Everyone told me that's their favourite artwork because it shows the frustration that we, as young millennials, feel. However, people keep teasing me, since I'm on the cusp of Gen Z *Swadha laughs*, but yeah, millennials or Gen Z, have this frustration that the world that we have come into, we have to fight just to be able to breathe clean air, or to have clean water, or clean vegetables, etc. So it's important to show that.

Artist: Swadha Pardesi, 2021

Q: As someone self-taught, and to hear how you bring your own experience, your own history, to your commissions, is this something you feel intuitively, or do you struggle to carve out that space in your client/illustrator dynamic?

Yeah, it is intuitive. I believe in using my emotions as energy and pouring my life experiences into the work, because I feel lived experience is way more important than what you read around. Although both should be informing each other, obviously, and while illustrating the mountain piece, one of the research articles that I had read was that they were trying to help the Snow Leopard population by answering why the Snow Leopard is coming and hunting the cattle of the villagers here. What they found out is that there are not enough wild herbivores in that area to be prey for the snow leopard. So, what was causing [the issue] was the grasslands or pastures being used by the villagers. Experts suggested leaving some areas of the pastures to go wild, allowing wild herbivores to use them and bounce back in numbers. And if that's taken care of, a snow leopard will have prey and will have no reason to come down and try to access the cattle of the villagers. And that's how the Nature Conservation Foundation (NFC) research project inspired this illustration. So I visualise a researcher, someone who works with communities. Without working with communities, indigenous communities, and people who live on the land, there's no conservation.

I think I've been very lucky when it comes to my clients. Often, I learn a lot from them, too. Sometimes their inputs elevate the illustration to new heights, like when the SCC's BNG '22 team asked me to add humans to the mountain and other habitat illustrations. Many of them leave things up to me completely. But in the starting phase, when they ask me to come up with the first draft. The concept is this: I turn it into a sketch and explain it to them visually. If they approve it, I proceed to render it. Most of the time, I feel there's not much of a struggle. Sometimes [clients] might request the removal of something or say an illustration is a bit too imaginative. Those instances have happened, but very few. I feel like my clients do see me as an equal. They see me as someone hired to solve a problem for them or to communicate a problem.

Artist: Swadha Pardesi for the 13th Student Conference on Conservation Science in 2022

Q: Is there something particular about the Wild We Stand mission that you found interesting?

I remember from our last conversation that you were talking about radical language. That was something very fresh for me. And I haven't heard anybody else express that or say it with such passion; this is really important. You mentioned that forests are being reduced. Still, we don't mention who is destroying the habitats. That is something we need to acknowledge; those words need to be spoken so that it's not just assumed that this is just happening. No, somebody is doing it. It's the corporations and the governments that are closely aligned.

We need to come together and make this language more normal and normalised. For me, seeing someone take action towards that is very fascinating. I really love that you are working on this, starting a collective, gathering people, and understanding their different perspectives. It takes a lot of effort, and I really applaud you on that. I can't wait to see where this goes in one year.

Q: As someone who has been a part of local conservation collectives and community groups, could you tell us what you think those spaces do well? And what areas can they improve on?

The best thing about these spaces is that they end up making a community for people who really care about these issues. That's very important, because when we look at the general public surrounding us, our friends and family. Often, they are people who may not have a strong emotional connection to nature and wildlife, or a deep scientific understanding. And the problem with having that deep scientific understanding is 'knowing' the kind of collapse you're heading towards, which, again, does affect our emotions, our mental health, and therefore having these spaces and having a community of like-minded people supports us emotionally and mentally. I believe this is an essential aspect in any job sector, particularly in conservation. If you are not okay, you can't do your work properly.

One area where collectives could improve is creating a safe space for multiple identities. I'm saying that when it comes to queer people and neurodivergent people, making it safe enough is important. Another, I would say, is that here we have in India different castes, and outside that we have economic classes. So, people from all these different backgrounds and spaces need to come together. They all need to mix because with that diversity, being able to understand different experiences and think from different perspectives is extremely important.

Artist: Swadha Pardesi

Q: You've been quite open about being neurodivergent and how being diagnosed has had a positive effect on your life. How does this experience and perspective directly influence or enhance your work as an artist and conservationist?

After I got my diagnosis, I was shocked for a while, and then my neuropsychologist told me that the main thing about this journey is learning to accept myself. And then that was a journey of a few months where I was nerding out about many things related to neurodivergence. I think I'm good at my work, possibly because I have a different way of looking at things. The entire word neurodivergent means being different. You are different, and therefore a neurotypical would connect A to B or A to D or A to F, but a neurodivergent can connect A to Z, which is why they often don't get understood. But that's precisely what makes neuro 'divergence' a gift; and that's how I see mine. It's very important to acknowledge that there's a certain level of privilege in this right, because being able to work in the field of conservation, being an artist who works in conservation, it requires financial privilege, support from your parents, that you get time to make your career or to even completely jump from a different stream of work to another stream of work. That's one privilege. Another privilege would be to have family and friends who support you so that you can come out to them about your diagnosis.

Q: What would it look like for you to live in a world or community that centres care and eco justice for ecosystems, wildlife, and communities?

I think it would mean that the way we are organising our cities and the world, and living, would be much more intelligent, sensible, and sustainable. If I get down to the absolute basics of it, when I walk out of my house, I would not see trees being cut. When I visit city areas where trees have been planted for convenience, I wish they would consult the right people and plant native trees and grasses instead.

The second thing would be how we manage our electricity. There are these illustration campaigns and art campaigns that keep happening, that ask us to collectively dream about the kind of world we want to live in, which is very important. I haven't made one yet, but while researching, I came across many community spaces that we don't utilise. One example is people's terraces, or their roofs, right? For instance, consider a public bus stand with a shade. Why not install solar panels on that? Cities have a lot of other unused spaces. And there could be a small urban wild garden made of native wildflowers, native bushes, and native trees. There could be a small food forest, where people can pluck whatever's growing and have it. It doesn't make any sense. The road is lined with trees that don't even belong to the country.

But I must acknowledge that in India, and I think in many parts of the world, these decisions are not only taken carelessly, they are often also taken just for profit. And what really baffles me is that the decisions being made are all by people from the baby boomers' generation. I wonder about all these people. Okay, fine, you want to make money. You want to make more and more and more money, but you really don't think about your children and their children, because, after all, you are trying to earn the money for them as well. Because that's what people look at. "Oh, I want to give my family a lot more. I want to be able to send them abroad for education and other opportunities". But then, if we don't have air to breathe, we don't have clean water to drink. If all our vegetables are going to have crazy levels of chemicals, pollutants, and microplastics, then what's the point? Right? So yeah, intentional is a word that describes it.

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Swadha has been leading the growing collective, City of Birds in Upudiaur. Follow Swadha's Instagram to see her illustration journey and City of Birds Collective: @swadha.pardesi & @cityofbirdscollective

Learn more about Swadha and her experiences working as an illustrator in the conservation sector in part two of this interview, which will be published next Wednesday.

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