Temple for Birds, Pratul Dash, Terracotta pots and sound, 2018.

The work is positioned at the intersection of the local and the global; the tradition and modernity. It seeks to celebrate the beauty of nature, to vouchsafe for the freedom of birds, purity of waters, plants, air, and climate. Bindusagar that was famous for migratory birds is now receiving less and less of the migratory birds. Environmental degradation, deforestation, ecological imbalance, unchecked mining, and human encroachments in every nook and corner of the nature and wildlife have become rather cliché now. The work is a direct comment upon, and a protest against, the mindless trends that are moving rapidly toward the destruction of the planet. The use of the kuḍuā, the holy earthen vessel that is still used today for the cooking of the Maha Prasada in the Jagannath, Lingaraja, and Ananta Vasudeva temples refer to the tradition. Accordingly, it is my idea that the artwork should be shifted later on to the Ekamra Park nearby so that the birds can make nests in the kuḍuā.