• My advice to artists would be drop every garb that you have, drop every piece of knowledge that you think you have. Head to the jungles, head to the rural places. We are living in a time of crisis. We need artists more than the scientists. We need artists more than the healers. We need artists more than anything because arts connect everybody. We need songs, we need stories, we need pictures, we need circles, we need Ubuntu to prosper. Traditional Western ways of, colonized ways of working will not save us as a species. They're not going to help us. They're only going to destroy. And the traditionally arts ecosystem exists like that everywhere in the world. Now we know that it's been going on for hundreds of years. We need to destroy that as artists and we need to head to where our roots are, which is in the soil. And our arts come from there.

I met Lallan (Anirudh Lallan Choudhry) at the Sunshine Himalayan Cottage facility in the Tirthan Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. The managing host of this facility, Panki Sood, introduced us. Lallan, is a multi-disciplinary artist and socially engaged artist who practice is ‘rooted deep in working with the earthen, on a severe lookout for the conditions which enable genuine co-authors within communities, forming narratives through extra-human design and enquiry’. He is the founder of Baadii, a rural art-house in Himachal Pradesh where he currently lives and is also working on community arts projects at Sunshine Himalayan Cottage with Panki and his team, which you’ll hear about in a few minutes. I want to thank Panki for introducing us and Lallan for this first conversation. 

Note: You can hear his latest musical production, Kyun, here). Below is a rough translation of the lyrics :

• Why is the world caught up in making excuses still
• Why are the machines continuously pumping smoke in the air
• By whose permission did we dump all the garbage in the sea 
• And who are the idiots building these dams trying to tie free rivers

• What is all this and why is this even
• What is this world that humans are desiring?

• If everything is one day bound to be left here on the ground
• Then what is the use of constant fighting, over and over again?
• And why is it that we fill bombs and continue to drop them on our very own children? 
• We are intoxicated by the notions of borders and religion
• And continue to revel in the blashpemy of it all

• So why is this even
• That destruction and more destruction is the only thing we want? 

• Those who can be quiet and just listen, where are they?
• Why are my torchbearers full of greed who want to sell the world?
• Those who divide the we into you and me
• Why has everyone chosen them to lead?
• Those who dry down the rivers and erase forests 
• Whar are they doing in everyone's share of the earth
• Why are the deprived, still deprived
• What kind of progress is this? 
• Wherever you see, its filled of smoke
• What kind of a fire of hatred have they fueled 

• Douse it, douse it, douse it
• Let us breathe, of whatever breath is left 
• Whatever little is left of life 

• Might also die, if you do not stop!

Show notes generated by Whisper Transcribe AI:

Action points

• Embrace traditional wisdom by learning from rural communities and their sustainable practices.
• Create art that addresses socio-political issues and promotes cultural movements.
• Build community art spaces that foster collaboration between artists, naturalists, and local populations.
• Highlight the cultural importance of ecological regions through art and storytelling.
• Negate purely aesthetic work in favor of art that drives social and ecological change.

Story Preview

Imagine an artist who champions rural wisdom, bridging ancient traditions with contemporary art to spark cultural and ecological movements. Discover how Lalan is building vibrant arts ecosystems in the Himalayas, proving that art can be a powerful catalyst for change.

Chapter Summary

00:00 The Call for Artists
01:29 Setting Up an Arts Ecosystem
03:25 Learning from Rural Communities
06:30 Art as a Medium of Connection
08:06 The Journey of a Self-Taught Artist
10:01 Creating Impact Through Community Art
12:28 Current Projects and Future Aspirations

Featured Quotes

• We need artists more than the scientists. We need artists more than the healers… because arts connect everybody.
• The traditionally arts ecosystem exists like that everywhere in the world…We need to destroy that as artists and we need to head to where our roots are, which is in the soil.
• How can you as an artist live and create work in a rural so called remote setting where nobody even expects a doctor or an engineer to even work. So how can you make art there? 

Behind the Story

Lallan’s journey from documentary filmmaker to socially engaged artist is rooted in a deep connection to rural communities and a desire to address pressing ecological and cultural issues. His work challenges the dominance of Western artistic models, advocating for a return to traditional wisdom and collaborative art practices that empower local voices.

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on July 8, 2025