Submissions | VizChitra 2026
Lives in a Time of Climate Distress
Esha
Market Intelligence Specialist•Monotype
Description
This project explores how climate distress — including air pollution, extreme heat, forest fires, and environmental degradation — is experienced by lives other than humans in India. While humans are offered warnings, thresholds, and protective measures, animals live through the same changing atmosphere without shields, advisories, or choice.
Visitors encounter a series of printed posters composed of archived newspaper articles, visual excerpts, and stills from videos documenting animals affected by pollution, heatwaves, fires, and ecological stress. Text and images are selectively highlighted to show different forms of distress in different species such as breathing difficulty, displacement, injury, and death, across urban, forest, and riverine contexts. The experience invites slow reading and reflection rather than immediate conclusions.
Archived news articles and videos function as qualitative data, revealing recurring patterns and gaps in how animal climate distress is recorded. CZA mortality records, AQI and temperature data determine which locations, periods, and forms of distress are visualized. The visualizations organize, compare, and layer these datasets to make exposure, vulnerability, and absence visible, guiding interpretation rather than illustrating conclusions.
At its core, the project asks How do non-human lives experience climate distress in a world where protection, adaptation, and response systems are designed primarily for humans? What does climate distress look like for lives that cannot adapt, protect themselves, even within spaces designed for their safety?
Set within Indian cities, forests, and rivers, the project reflects on a shared atmosphere shaped by human activity, where animals inhabit environments that are increasingly unstable, polluted, and hostile.
By working beyond conventional numerical datasets and focusing on experiential, archival, and qualitative evidence, the project expands how climate data can be visualized- focusing on vulnerability, exposure, and unequal protection across species.
Data Source
The project draws from archived newspaper articles & video reports documenting animals affected by pollution, heatwaves, forest fires, & ecological disruption across cities, forests, and rivers. These materials act as qualitative data, capturing lived experiences that are often episodic and inconsistently recorded. The limited and uneven coverage in news reporting also points to absence: while scientific research and studies on climate impacts are ongoing, public-facing data on animal distress remains sparse and easily overlooked. Mortality records & causes of death from Central Zoo Authority reports are examined to understand patterns of respiratory and climate-related distress among animals living in protected environments such as zoos. These records are placed alongside AQI and temperature data sourced from weather reports corresponding to the same periods and locations. Rather than claiming direct causation, the project attempts to highlight overlap, exposure, and vulnerability within shared environments.
Technical Requirements
The work primarily requires wall space for a series of printed posters, arranged sequentially to encourage close reading and comparison. No specialized lighting is required. Optionally, a single screen or tablet may be used to display short video excerpts or scrolling article timelines, requiring basic power and internet access. If available, a small shelf or stand can support printed references or contextual text.
Project Status & Timeline
This is a new project currently in progress. Preliminary research, concept development, and source collection have begun. The next phase involves data collection from CZA mortality reports, AQI and temperature datasets, and archived news material, followed by visual analysis. Visualization, design and poster creation will be completed in advance of the exhibition. If a short screen-based video element is included, time will be allocated for editing and testing. The project will be finalized and ready for installation by June 2026.[