Within the framework of Generation Equality Forum and the France-India Year of Environment 2021, the French Institute in India has curated a series of video capsules titled ‘Seriously Artistic’ around the issues of our time. They cover environmental issues, ecological problems, sustainability to gender issues, equality & inclusivity.

This series shows how art, design and even architecture take these issues into account through Indian and French professional’s take. Through their work and daily life, how do creators take meaningful action for our planet and society as an individual, an artist and more importantly as a citizen of this new world?

In these videos, Indian and French personalities share their vision and their experience on the topics of sustainabilityeco-sustainability as well as gender equality and women empowerment.


Creators: Vibha Galhotra | Chloé Sharrock | Cynthia Walsh | Cendrine Bonami Redler | Guillian Graves


We first invite Vibha Galhotra to speak about her relationship to ecology (in the broad sense of the term). Vibha is a New Delhi based Indian contemporary visual artist who works with numerous artistic mediums. Her work revolves around the ideas of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction of culture, society and geography. Vibha has always been concerned by ecological issues within her work & the current social pandemic we are facing now, which has increased her concerns as a human being and as an artist living on this planet. In this video capsule, Vibha shares her need to redefine her own existence and human existence in general.

Her website: vibhagalhotra.in

A specialist in documentary filmmaking, French photographer Chloé Sharrock promotes the role of women and women’s rights in post-conflict societies in the Middle East through conferences and panel discussions in France. This video capsule captures her journey in countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, India and the women she has encountered.

Her portfolio: instagram.com/sharrock.chloe

Cynthia Walsh, an alumni of Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Est & Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles, is currently teaching drawing in various Parisian schools such as Nouvelle Académie des Beaux Arts de Paris, Prép’Art, among others. She travels the territory of the Parisian suburbs by bicycle and is interested in current changing landscapes. She represents the urban mutations of our time, her drawings reveal the soon to be buried history and the dawn of a new narrative. Her video specifically focuses on Ivry, an old working-class town located in the southeast of Paris and it helps us in witnessing the way she moves from the site, studio work and on to the final drawings. It’s an opportunity to see an aspect of the Paris outdoors and discover a singular vision.

Cendrine Bonami Redler is graduated both with a graphic design’s master at Duperré Applied Arts School and an interior architecture’s master at Camondo school. These studies led her naturally to specialize herself in design graphics with a spatial vision. For 26 years, Cendrine Bonami Redler never stopped drawing. This video capsule presents her journey of drawing what we no longer see & preserve what is doomed to disappear and her relationship with landscapes, architecture and interior design.

Founder of the Big Bang Project, Guillian Graves is a designer, teacher-researcher, expert in biomimicry, co-founder & head of the Master of Science in Nature-Inspired Design at the École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle (ENSCI-Les Ateliers), collaborator of the Center for Research in Design (ENSCI-Les Ateliers) & École Normale Supérieure Paris Saclay), a teacher at Sciences Po Paris, and finally a lecturer. In this video, he talks about his passions for developing, through Life Sciences and Design, innovative solutions in response to the major challenges of today and tomorrow.

Did you know?

2021 is the France-India Year of Environment:

The Indo-French Year of the Environment was launched on 28th January 2021 by Prakash Javadekar, the Indian Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Barbara Pompili, the French Minister for Ecological Transition in New Delhi. The basic objective is to strengthen Indo-French cooperation in sustainable development, increase the effectiveness of actions in favour of global environment protection and give them greater visibility. 

The Indo-French Year of the Environment over the period 2021-2022 would be based on five main themes: environmental protection, climate change, biodiversity conservation, sustainable urban development, and the development of renewable energies and energy efficiency. It is also a platform for engaging in discussions on critical areas of collaboration relating to the environment and allied areas.

2021 marks the Generation Equality Forum:

The Generation Equality Forum is a civil society–centred, a global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France. The Forum kicked off in Mexico City, Mexico, on 29 –31 March 2021, and will culminate in Paris, France, on 30 June – 2 July 2021, with the aim of securing a set of concrete, ambitious, and transformative commitments to achieve immediate and irreversible progress towards gender equality. The landmark effort will bring together governments, corporations and change to define and announce ambitious investments and policies. It will be a moment to show people everywhere that, together, we are standing up for gender equality with concrete, tangible action.