黑料不打烊

Beautiful Zameen is a series of works that explores the Green Revolution in Punjab. The Green Revolution鈥攁 U.S. sponsored agricultural framework based on high-yield seed varieties, intensive irrigation and drainage, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides鈥攚as implemented in the 1960s and has since damaged the landscape in Punjab by causing declining water tables, widespread soil erosion, low forest cover, and an epidemic of farmer suicides. Extending from that, global corporate involvement in agriculture, and neoliberal policies in India has led to India鈥檚 rapid increase in consumption, leading to further exploitation of natural resources.

The drawings and embroidery in Beautiful Zameen鈥攚hich means beautiful land鈥� have emerged from Raina鈥檚 archival research, including a collaborative study of the playwright Satinder Chohan鈥檚 photography of the Green Revolution. Raina鈥檚 works depict farmers, agricultural land, and hands that hold crops and photographs, fusing his research with an ancestral material practice. He treats his subjects with care and commemoration, drawing attention to the everyday lived experiences and losses related to the Green Revolution, which was also the catalyst to an exodus of migrants to North America and the UK. Raina also explores material history through his films, which include video footage, stop motion animation, poetry, and music to position this textile within the Phulkari鈥檚 broader history.