Attuning to Generational Relational Wisdom Through Elephants

Abstract

Painting elephants as a form of inquiry led me on a quest to find connection with not only non-human participants, and the planet itself, but also to grounding myself within Indian history and ancestral memory. On my journey of discovery of human and non-human entities, I experienced elephants as symbolising all living entities, including rocks, water, and minerals alongside humans, the prime predators on this planet and a major evolutionary force. Nested in my search is a consideration of human supremacy as a hegemonic structure which led me to consider other hegemonic structures, such as patriarchy and caste. From a Harappan seal dating back to the second millennium BCE to the exploration of the divine feminine in tantric philosophy (700-1200 CE), to the feminist artist, Carolee Schneemann in the twentieth century, I sought to connect with anti-casteist, anti-patriarchal ideas consonant with ecofeminism. I try to inquire into how elephants matter to me and how painting them helps me understand my own history and thereby equip myself to be humble as a family art therapist attuned to planetary health.