Parvathi Nayar on how art helps us think about what it means to be human

“It’s important for people to have art in their lives, as a way to think differently and as a way to reflect on what it means to be human,” said New Delhi-based artist Parvathi Nayar in an exclusive live interview with The Federal for World Art Day (April 15).

On the World Art Day 2025, The Federal held a live interview on Instagram, with Nayar, a celebrated visual artist who works across medium (videos, sculpture, bookmarking, painting, and photography) , on how art is a personal journey for everyone, what she thinks of AI, the future of art, and how science and art can work in tandem to create new and immersive multimedia art forms.

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Nayar said the things we see around us can inspire any number of ways of using art. She also underlined the importance of being physically present to appreciate art, and understand how each person’s role in an ecosystem is crucial. Her works give the audience a message that every aspect of their existence is vital. To her, art is a medium to bring out deeper questions about the roles we play in nature, history and the environments we inhabit.

Nayar’s works have been a part of collections in the Singapore Art Museum, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and The Australia India Institute. They have also been displayed across the country, from an impressive 20-feet high drawn sculpture artwork to her most recent art installation in Chennai: ‘Limits of Change’ at the Lalit Kala Academy. Her latest show, ‘BIOME: Celebrating Land, Water, Life’, curated by Lina Vincent, opened at the Ganges Art Gallery in Kolkata on April 12, and will be on till May 10. Excerpts from the interview:

Tell us something about your latest show, BIOME.

BIOME is a solo show organised in association with the Hashtag Collective. It looks at the idea of a ‘biome’ — in this case, wetlands — to take it apart as the fauna, flora, changing levels from the macroscopic to the microscopic. So, there is this immersive experience for a person walking in: it shows how complex, interconnected and holistic nature is.

Art is very beautifully positioned in the sense that it doesn’t hit you on the head with a message telling you you’ve got to do this or that. Because, as people, we are resistant to being told what to do. Whereas art proposes, it says: see the beauty, see the consequence, see how you could perhaps be a caretaker, conservator or at least a responsible citizen living in this environment.

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What was the process of working on ‘Limits of Change’ in Chennai like?

It really was a six-year-long process, and started when I invited my niece, Nayantara, a playwright, to collaborate with me. My father had left his papers to me and I had always wanted to do something with it that would be relevant to our times. The people who came found it very moving, immersive and tangible.

There have been concerns over the Ghibli Studio-style image feature of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Is the unique voice of artists at risk? Or can AI be a tool for artists to improve?

The Ghibli situation is really sad, especially when one thinks of Ghibli as a unique, creative space and when this happened it was extraordinarily sad. AI, like everything else, is a double-edged sword.

When computers first came, they said ‘Oh my gosh, what would artists do with it?’ Even before that, printing came with the ‘loss of aura’ about art being talked about. Artists have incorporated these things into their practice in many clever, original and innovative ways. So, I can’t imagine that artists would not incorporate AI in some form, if they wanted to.

I think it is scary, and I don’t know any foolproof ways to protect art, but it is a danger; it would be foolish to not recognise it as a danger. Maybe at the same time then, we should tell people how much more important it is to actually see the art. It could be turned around to be a cautionary message. AI is a tool. We could go ahead and use the tool but we should be more vigilant about real creativity and approaching what you call a work of art in its physical presence.

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Your works marry science, technology and art. When did you first become aware of this intersection?

The place where I first really realised this was at a solo show called ‘Drawing is a Verb’ in Singapore. I created a maze within a place called the Arts House with the help of a designer, and the audience went through this maze, looking at artworks, and little texts not describing the artwork but riffing off it.

So, they could follow a path and they could come to the realisation that they were going on their own journeys. To create these experiences with art, they took away something that’s personal.