Brush, Bloom, and Biodiversity
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Suresh Ragavan’s Art Chronicles the Endangered Life of the Western Ghats
At the delicate crossroads of art and science lies a discipline both precise and poetic — botanical illustration. For Chennai-based artist Suresh Ragavan, this intersection has defined more than just a career. Over the past 33 years, it has become a lifelong mission to preserve India’s natural heritage, one stroke at a time.
Currently showcased at the Kadambari Art Gallery in Dakshina Chitra Museum, Chennai, Suresh’s solo exhibition titled Brushstrokes of Endemic Echoes features 157 meticulously rendered illustrations. These works capture the richness and fragility of the endemic and endangered flora and fauna of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its exceptional biodiversity.
Having served as a botanical illustrator at the Botanical Survey of India for over three decades, Suresh is no stranger to the challenges that come with this niche yet vital art form. “Botanical illustration demands a level of precision that goes beyond ordinary drawing,” he explains. “A slight inaccuracy in the shape of a petal or a miscounted stamen can make the illustration scientifically invalid. Often, you go through multiple corrections before the work is accepted by botanists.”
Beyond aesthetics, the role calls for scientific diligence. Many times, Suresh has had to work with wilted or partial specimens collected from remote terrains. “You need to reconstruct the whole from a part. And for rare species, that is a heavy responsibility. Sometimes, I use a microscope to capture microscopic traits — leaf venation, ovary structure, or stamen arrangement. It is painstaking, but incredibly rewarding.”
An alumnus of the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai (Class of 1988), Suresh began his artistic journey with a dual purpose — to create and to conserve. While his early works focused on birds and wild animals, he gradually moved toward detailed documentation of plants and endangered species. Over the years, he has amassed a personal collection of nearly 550 paintings, with a strong focus on India’s vanishing avian and botanical life.
“In this exhibition, I’ve focused specifically on the endangered birds of the Western Ghats,” he says. Some of the species on display include the majestic Pallas’s fish eagle, the vibrant mangrove pitta, Nilgiri thrush, Vigors’s sunbird, great hornbill, Nilgiri Chilappan, flame-throated bulbul, Malabar grey hornbill, and the black-and-orange flycatcher. Each painting captures intricate anatomical features — beak shapes, feather patterns, postures, and even subtle differences between males and females.
Suresh’s work continues a long tradition of botanical illustration that dates back millennia. The Encyclopaedia Britannica traces the earliest examples to Crateuas, a classical pharmacologist and physician in ancient Greece. In India, botanical art can be seen in the early depictions within archaeological sites and ancient palm-leaf manuscripts. Despite the digital revolution and the rise of high-resolution photography, botanical illustration continues to hold its ground — and for good reason.
“Photography is invaluable, but it has its limitations,” Suresh points out. “A camera might miss details hidden in shadows or distort colours under artificial light. My brush gives me control. I can unify multiple parts — leaf, flower, fruit, seed, and internal structures — into one visual. A hand-drawn illustration does not just show the plant, it interprets it. It carries the artist’s understanding, and often, emotion.”
Brushstrokes of Endemic Echoes is more than just an exhibition — it is a visual archive of India’s ecological legacy and a passionate call to protect what remains. Through precision, patience, and paint, Suresh Ragavan invites viewers to look closer, feel deeper, and remember what’s at stake in the rich but fragile ecosystems of the Western Ghats.
