As far as I can remember, Chennai’s relationship with water has always been contentious.
Temperatures here are always high, rains are sparse in between and summer brings with it the never-ending shortage of water. ‘Unga areala thanni ellam eppadi?’ Loosely translated, this means: ‘What is the water supply situation like in your area?’ For many in the city, inept at small talk, water has been the go-to subject of conversation. But, over the past few years, Chennai has witnessed a marked shift in this conversation. The devastations of the flood in 2015 and the cyclone in 2016 laid bare the problems surrounding poorly maintained water systems. As a result, questions on water policy and collective responsibility are no longer ignored, but heavily debated upon. A rather clear and conducive voice within this dialogue has been the Embrace Our Rivers initiative put forth by the Goethe Institut, Chennai. In 2016, in the immediate aftermath of the floods, the Goethe Institut spearheaded the Chennai Photo Biennale, where water was one of the major topics of discussion. Following a similar vein of thought, Goethe Institut recently presented the DAMnedART project – a month-long exhibition curated by Florian Matzner and Ravi Agarwal.
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