For far too long, conversations about climate change and its impacts have remained confined to the echo chambers of academics, researchers, and policymakers. We are now at a critical moment where we must move beyond jargon-heavy debate that momentarily alarm but rarely connect. At Asar, we
believe that to communicate the urgency of the climate crisis, we must first humanise it.

Created by two young Adivasi artists – Dinesh Barap and Akash Bhoir, this Warli artwork at Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Udyan and Zoo comes alive just before Mumbai Climate Week. The setting itself offers a rare opportunity to take climate conversations beyond expert rooms and institutional spaces, placing them in a public, accessible environment where families, children, and visitors from across the city gather with interest.

As the government, climate experts and organisations come together to reflect on climate future, this mural speaks directly to people across ages, neighbourhoods, and backgrounds, inviting everyone visiting the zoo to see how climate change intersects with their own lives, choices, and responsibilities.

About Two Paths, One Circle: A Warli Story of Climate, Community, and Choice.

This warli art represents two paths. One side reflects the climate realities we are already living with: rising heat, erratic rains, degraded air & water, rising sea-levels & coastal flooding, farmlands under stress from droughts and shifting seasons, and more. These are no longer distant problems – they affect all of us – farmers, fisherfolk, city dwellers, children, and wildlife – each in different ways.

The other side shows how we can act – together. It depicts communities, businesses, and governments switching to clean energy, restoring ecosystems, promoting sustainable transport and city spaces, supporting climate-resilient farming, and cutting emissions. These depictions remind us that real climate action is a shared effort – centered around people and strengthened by forward-looking choices from governments and businesses working toward a sustainable future.

Running along the border of the mural is a continuous circle of people holding hands in a traditional Warli dance. It tells us that climate action is always about people and no one stands outside the climate story. Climate change is a collective problem and needs collective action – communities aware of risks, calling for action, backed by governments and businesses investing in solutions. The same hands that harm can also heal it, when everyone – from communities to leaders – choose to act together.

With its minimal yet powerful visual language, this Warli art turns complex climate issues into human stories for everyone to understand. This wall invites visitors – especially children and young people – to reflect on their own role in shaping a climate-resilient Mumbai and Maharashtra.

About the artists:

Dinesh Barap is a Warli artist from the Nava Pada Warli settlement in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai. Dinesh was trained in this art form by his grandmother and he went on to complete his Bachelor of Arts at Ruia College, Mumbai. Dinesh has exhibited his work for the Confluence Exhibition for Living Waters Museum in 2021 and Forest in the City exhibition for KRVIA in 2024 at CSMVS and Conscious Collective, Godrej Campus, Vikhroli. He conducts forest walks and Warli workshops and is currently studying Fine Arts at Sir JJ School of Fine Arts, Mumbai.

Akash Bhoir is a contemporary Warli artist belonging to the Malhar koli tribe, living with his family in their ancestral home in Keltipada, a tribal hamlet of Aarey Colony. Akash works to keep his community’s cultural heritage alive and creates art and spaces where people can reconnect with nature and indigenous knowledge. Akash works with sustainable, eco-friendly materials that honour the earth. For him, Warli art is not merely a decorative style but a “lost script,” a visual language that carries the memories of his people. He strives to preserve the soul of Warli art while allowing it to evolve, ensuring the stories, struggles, and spirit of his people reach a global audience.