“Our job as storytellers is to convince people to make something happen that will make a difference not only for our generation alone but future generations,” said award-winning Indian filmmaker and photographer Sandesh Kadur during his inspirational talk “The Art of Visual Storytelling” at the 8th edition of Xposure International Photography Festival on Thursday. His talk was part of the 3rd iteration of the Xposure Conservation Summit.
Kadur, a National Geographic Fellow, was narrating his experience in making governments take action which led to UNESCO declaring the Western Ghats in India a World Heritage Site in 2012. He pointed out how presenting a copy of his book on the Western Ghats’ vanishing heritage to former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had elicited a decision to act for the conservation of the Indian mountain ranges on the west coast of India using the Conservation Action Blueprint submitted by his team.
“We had included the importance of connectivity, of corridors and places where it would be feasible. We work at the grassroots level, educating people but we need to have people at the government level who can bring policy changes top-down, and bottom-up from the NGO level. This is all due to the power of photography, film-making and packaging all of this in a way that decision-makers will take action”, he noted.
Kadur also played a soul-stirring and viral video of India’s flora and fauna with the national anthem minus the lyrics playing in the background to drive home the need for conservation while taking pride in its biodiversity and wealth. “If you connect people with the feeling and take out the language, the message will go so much further,” he added. He also reminded his audience to take note of the fact that “all that amazing wildlife lives in a country with 1.4 billion people''.
The documentary maker, who has discovered animals like the Japalura lizard on his quest across the Himalayas and worked for the conservation of the clouded leopard including the release of two cubs into the Ripu-Chirang Wildlife Sanctuary Forest between India and Bhutan, felt that poaching was only a smaller part of the conservation problem, and corruption had resulted in the destruction of ecosystems.
“Only 5% of the land in India is under the protected area system. If we as humankind cannot collectively live with the 95% of land that we occupy and eye the 5%, how much longer are we going to exist if we destroy the places that gives us clean air, water or our fundamental services?” asked the wildlife enthusiast, who has set up Felis Creations, a natural history production house in Bangalore, to use photography as a powerful message for wildlife conservation.
Kadur, whose passion for wildlife began at an early age and went against his family’s plans for his future studies, had launched into his career in photography with the help of his mentor and professor Lawrence Lof. He went on to make impactful documentary films aired on major networks like National Geographic, BBC, Netflix, Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet. His notable works include the National Geographic docuseries ‘Wild Cats of India’ and ‘India’s Wild Leopards’.
Kadur underlined that the “power of collaboration between science and storytellers is very important”, giving the example of primatologist Jane Goodall’s work on chimpanzees in the company of wildlife photographer and later spouse Hugo van Lawick. He noted that the importance of visual storytelling goes back centuries, giving the example of the paintings in the monasteries of Bhutan.
Organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), Xposure 2024 features over 400 visual storytellers from over 50 nations, featuring curated exhibitions, panel discussions, and workshops.
