Christopher Pinney in conversation with Ronny Sen

The conversation will also examine how Sen, through his photography and film-making engages with the wider social and political discourse in South Asia.

Fire Continuum highlights Sen’s photographic engagement with the contemporary landscape, with a sharp focus on Jharia, a coal mining town in Jharkhand. In this series, the artist looks deeply into the current issue of environmental degradation that has made life unliveable in some parts of the world. 

Sen captures images of the coal fire that has been burning in Jharia since the early 1900s, as well as unethical and unsustainable mining practices that continue in the area till today. The result of this is a set of entirely surreal images that are simultaneously morbid and immeasurably beautiful. Initially published as a book titled End of Time (Nazar Photography Monographs 04) in 2017, the photographs in the exhibition allow an opportunity to explore in detail how precious the environment is in this very moment.