Designer/ Researcher/ Photographer
Working at the nexus of culture, economics, and politics of sustainability.
I’m an Indian visual story teller who employs design thinking processes in my photography practice.
I moved to Finland for an MA in Creative Sustainability (design) from Aalto University, produced a dissertation which drew from 9 concepts of ecofeminism and degrowth. The medium of photography functions as a tool for research-based storytelling, self-reflection, and connecting to surrounding landscape. It forms the link between surrealism, quantum and the environment. My interests lie in the interconnectedness of environment, economics, and politics of sustainability. Currently based in India, documenting grassroots, livelihood based projects.
I would like to collaborate on research oriented projects.
Picture courtesy: Gunnar Bäckman
Photo Stories
Camera trapping for small wild cats in North-East India
Goodu factory
Kani Livelihood Solar Project
Bhavani River Basin
Ragihalli
Spectacular Specimens (2024)
Changing landscapes and perturbations
Analogue Adventure
Portfolio
Handmade: Designing with raw materials
An opportunity to explore art-based practices and processes as part of a course in university led me to create an installation using Finnish lamb wool. The process involved intimate, political and philosophical engagement in which I traced through nostalgia, feeling a deep sense of attachment to a memory, that involved lives and activities that were attuned with nature.
Visualisation of a projected future cityscape at the Jätkäsaari shopping mall, Helsinki.
Citizens of Helsinki have been offered a chance to experience a new local community hub in Jätkäsaari. The location has been transformed from a boring barren sea-side site to a thriving shopping- complex, designed for prioritising community interaction and local economy by engaging local inhabitants through co-creation. The design of the complex encourages the use of public transport such as trams and bicycles.
Developing a Toolkit for Physical
Education Teachers in Tanzania
The sustainability challenge by Liike Sport & Development presented the need to improve physical education (PE) within Tanzanian schools. The client believed from earlier work that PE has a positive impact on girls’ empowerment, improved pupil health, and reduced absenteeism at schools.
We designed and proposed a mobile application for PE teachers called “Toolkit for Physical Education Teachers“. Click here to read more about this project.
Camera trapping for small wild cats in North-East India
I worked as a research assistant in the project “An integrative approach for designing and evaluating networks of protected areas under climate change: A test using small felids in India”. The project is a collaboration between Uppsala University, Sweden, the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History *SACON), Coimbatore, India and the national Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore India.
Woollulose
Material exploration with wool and nano-cellulose to create a series of material that provokes sensorial experiences through touch and sight. Wool, considered a sustainable, natural fibre, and nano-cellulose are combined to create earth friendly materials for further application.
Contact
surabhi.nadig@gmail.com
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India