While much has been done towards saving the tiger, little had been done in the domain of art and how it could be employed towards doing its bit for the tiger. A recent visit to London and exposure to The Elephant Parade there, inspired the three of us, to see how we could aggregate some of India’s finest artists and inspire them to create The Tiger Trail here in India through an initiative called ARTIGER.
The response we got was overwhelming. Every gallery contacted, every artist requested, came forth and decided to pitch in pro bono. Which means 50 artists producing 50 life size fibre glass Royal Bengal Tigers. Each with the artists signature style.
Each of these tigers would be adopted by 50 of the leading corporates in the country. For a period of three months, they would be displayed in public spaces all over New Delhi, beginning December 2010. Post that they would belong to the corporate that adopted them. Every corporate will be given a tiger based on a lucky draw to prevent any artist biases to come into play.
Aparajita Jain, runs Seven Arts, a cutting-edge gallery that showcases the finest of global contemporary art. She lives in New Delhi with her husband and two children.
Nandita Baig, works in the Development sector. She is on the Founding board of Youthreach an NGO based in Delhi and also works with Umeed an NGO based in Punjab. She lives in New Delhi with her husband and two children.
Swapan Seth runs Equus Red Cell, an advertising firm. He lives in Gurgaon with his wife and two children.