The intersection of ART and CONSERVATION

·1 hr·5 clips

Pooja reveals how the Andaman Islands' four ecosystems in her backyard hooked her onto conservation art.

This episode of Conservation Tribe explores how art serves as a tool for science communication and wildlife conservation. Host Blaine Edwards interviews Pooja, a multimedia artist from India who collaborates with scientists and conservation organizations. Pooja's work focuses on translating complex research into accessible visual stories through illustration, film, and design. Pooja began her journey five years ago in the Andaman Islands, where she created educational films about mangroves and dugongs. She explains that her role involves choosing the best visual medium—whether illustration, animation, or photography—to match a project's communication goals. One collaboration involved illustrating a researcher's scientific paper in Louisiana for the Instagram account Illustrated Research. Through her organization EarthcoLab, Pooja also designs artistic activities for school expeditions to teach scientific concepts in rainforests and reefs. A key insight is that storytelling is the crucial element that makes any visual communication effective, whether it's a film, illustration, or photograph. Pooja observes that illustration and animation offer a refreshing alternative to photography, attracting audiences with diverse artistic styles. She notes the wildlife and conservation artist community in India is very small, especially for illustrators, which creates both niche opportunities and challenges in finding steady work. Pooja finds projects through social media outreach, citing how a researcher directly messaged her on Facebook after seeing one drawing, leading to the "Marine Mammals of India" poster project. The conversation highlights that social media platforms like Instagram are vital for reaching public attention and facilitating collaborations. Pooja advises aspiring conservation artists to start creating and sharing work immediately rather than waiting for the perfect opportunity. She describes her own creative process as beginning with research, followed by brainstorming, concept development, and execution. For Pooja, wildlife conservation is fundamentally about protecting interconnected ecosystems that humans rely on for survival. The tone is conversational and exploratory, with the host sharing his own experiences in digital conservation. The style is educational, focusing on practical insights into merging creative careers with environmental science. This episode would appeal to artists, designers, and communicators interested in applying their skills to environmental causes. Listeners seeking highly technical conservation science or debate-driven content might find it less aligned with their interests.

As heard by us

A practical look at how art can carry conservation ideas and support scientific communication.

This episode treats art and conservation as a working partnership, not as separate worlds that occasionally overlap. Pooja, a multimedia artist from India, brings shape to that idea through a path that starts in the Andaman Islands and moves into work with biologists, educators,…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want art to feel useful, not decorative.

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