RoaR by Shanti Banaras - In Search of a Tiger Utopia

Tigers were on the brink of extinction in the early 1970s. The untamed population, which was estimated to number in the tens of thousands at the time of independence in 1947, had decreased to around 1,800. The tiger conservation figures, data, and underlying narrative have changed as of today. There are approximately 3,000 tigers in the wild in India, which is home to 70 percent of the world's untamed tiger population.

Over the years, the population of tigers in India has increased, but so have conflicts with humans. The recent 'RoaR' campaign by Shanti Banaras sheds light on this unexplored tiger tale. It transports the viewer into the rich world of tigers and instills in them the desire to inspire conservation efforts in India. 

Shanti Banaras' campaign aims to shed light on the many lesser-known complexities of this story while highlighting the alarming reality that India's conservationists face – where do you house a thriving population of an animal that drives an entire ecosystem if their habitats are usurped in the name of development for a growing human population that requires housing and infrastructure support?

It marks the beginning of a new chapter in the fight to save the tiger. In this series, as habitats diminish but tiger populations begin to rise for the first time in a century, a remarkable tale of man and beast pursuing each other unfolds. And it's this territorial war that could leave both parties wounded. The loss of habitat has brought tigers closer to human settlements, where they are at risk of being pursued, and these conflicts will continue to escalate unless the devastation and loss of forests is stopped.

The collection features pure silk hand-woven Benarasi fabrics that have been enhanced by the Badia technique. Metal is molten and perforated through steel sheets before being drawn into fine filaments for this traditional textile craft. The zardosia wire is then used to create a work of art.

This technique is typically employed in Rajasthan, but in 'RoaR,' Shanti Banaras adopts it for Banarasi weaving to convey the ferocious grace of a tiger on vibrant sarees and lehengas. The collection erupts in vibrant purples, blues, and oranges, with silvery badia work adding a shimmering effect.

Khushi Shah of Shanti Banars states:

"We wanted to shed light on the plight of tigers who are being forced to live as social animals despite their natural tendency to be solitary. The photographs are juxtaposed with illuminating installations in the wilderness to tell the tragic tale of our national animals brought back from the verge of extinction to face an existential threat that mirrors the struggles of their forest-dwelling human counterparts.

These geometric installations tell tales of how tiger conservation is altering India, overpopulated tigers in shrinking habitats, the human urge to push their boundaries further in the pursuit of development, stealing tigers' homes to make our own, and our sense of coexistence and self-reflection."

The purpose of Shanti's campaign is to remind us of our earthly origins. And we all have a profoundly seated response to the natural universe, including the tiger, which is part of our humanity.

Vya?sa verse in Maha?bha?rata, sums this well.

It reads:

nirvano? vadhyate? vya?ghro? nirvya?ghram? chidyate? vanam tasma?dvya?ghro? vanam? raks?e?dvanam? vya?ghram? ca pa?laye?t. Which translates to...Do not cut down that forest with its tigers! Let not the tigers be driven from that forest! There can be no forest without tigers, and no tigers without a forest. The forest shelters the tigers and tigers guard the forest!