It is the simplicity of the illustrations of Shubhashree S that drive home the points of sustainability and the importance of leading a zero-waste life. Even her two books, Let's Talk Trash and Let’s Talk Trash: The Kids’ Activity Book follow the same narrative. Prod her about how she manages to keep her aesthetics simple, and she says, "I haven't been trained formally so I just keep doing what comes naturally to me, simplicity."
While this former Bengalurean and current Hyderabadi started out in the IT sector, when she moved to the City of Nizams in 2016, she decided to take a break. And after enrolling for a watercolour workshop, the love for art and craft, something she was good at as a kid, was rekindled in her heart. But how did the zero-waste movement, which she is a huge advocate of today so much so that she has handled sessions and workshops on it, take root? "About 4-5 years back, when the zero waste movement set in, that's when I really started thinking about how we ought to be living," recalls the 35-year-old.
She undertook The Sketchbook Project, a project where a completed sketchbook becomes a part of the Brooklyn Art Library in March 2018. When she started her work for the book on her Instagram page @thehungrypalette, her followers started asking where they could purchase her work and that's how a compilation of her illustrations culminated in a published book. Like a lot of things that get popular online, her illustrations also took off.
It was her daughter, Amaya, who gave Shubhashree the idea of planning an activity book for children. "I wanted parents to go through the book with their children and was hoping that it would help them understand how they can be sustainable in their own way," says the artist who was also part of the Hyderabad Literary Festival last year. We wonder if she has seen any tangible results of her illustrations, and she says, 'Indeed!'. "A friend stopped using shower gels with microbeads (which are basically plastic) and another is trying to cut down on online orders because the packaging is plastic," shares the illustrator. And in this way, she and her illustrations are helping people take small yet steady steps towards being more sustainable.
Simple steps, stead impact:
These are the steps Shubhashree asks us to take to be more sustainable:
- Carry a handkerchief instead of using tissues
- Carry water bottles if you are travelling
- Take a snack with you if you are stepping out instead of buying processed food which comes in plastic packaging
Some more of her illustrations
For more on her, check out instagram.com/thehungrypalette
