Competitions and global tours: Natural History Museum promotes wildlife appreciation, conservation
In our third photo essay from the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, we showcase more images celebrating nature and calling for protecting our precious planet.
Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 820 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.
Each year, London’s Natural History Museum conducts the Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) competition. Winning and commended photographs are also taken on tours to select venues around the globe, thus enabling the images to inspire millions of visitors.
This year, the collection debuts in India at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai. See Part I and Part II of our coverage, along with juror insights.
NMACC regularly collaborates with other museums, galleries and private collections for its exhibitions. For example, see our coverage of the show titled Pop: Fame, Love and Power, which included works loaned from the Piramal Museum of Art and the Ambani Collection.
“As we present the beauty of the natural world that surrounds us and beyond with this exhibition, we are proud to showcase the work of six award-winning Indian photographers,” says Isha Ambani.
These photographers of WPY include Raj Mohan and Nejib Ahmed. Mohan shot a bird's-eye view of the pollution affecting Pallikaranai Marsh in Chennai. A travel and landscape photographer living in Bengaluru, he has recently been exploring aerial photography.
Ahmed is a conservation volunteer and wildlife photographer. He captured the fear and confusion among locals when a tiger wandered from the Orang National Park in Assam into surrounding agricultural land.
The wildlife photographs are breathtaking as well as thought-provoking, inspiring wonder at nature’s beauty as well as woe about the harsh side of wildlife, climate change, and adverse impacts of human development.
From tiny insects to massive mammals, the exhibition has it all—along with rare species and fascinating animal behaviours. WPY is thus regarded as the most prestigious photography event of its kind, showcasing some of the best talent from around the world.
The Natural History Museum aims to be a catalyst for change. It has 350 scientists working on solutions for planetary protection and well-being.
To make this exhibition accessible to broader audiences, NMACC offers free entry for children and senior citizens. This also extends to students in fine arts, photography, nature conservation, wildlife, and environmental studies.
The concourses of NMACC offer a range of public art by Indian and global artists, and craft exhibits from the SWADESH collection of the Reliance Foundation. There are specific pavilions on Thewa jewellery from Rajasthan, Thangka painting from Ladakh and Sikkim, Kanjivaram weaves from Tamil Nadu, and Banarasi weaves from Uttar Pradesh.
NMACC’s membership programme offers benefits like guided tours, complimentary tickets, discounts, and guaranteed entry to The Fountain of Joy. The lotus-inspired fountain, captured in this photo essay, celebrates the vibrant spirit of Mumbai via evening shows on five days of the week.
Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?
(All photographs were taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at NMACC.)
Edited by Kanishk Singh