Photography Exhibit Explores “Coexistence” between People and Elephants in Thailand

An exhibit of a Duke undergraduate pupil’s pictures within the Keohane-Kenan Gallery within the West Duke Building depicts the fraught relationship between Thai pineapple farmers and the elephants who devour their crops. 

As a Chelsea Decaminada Memorial Fellow — a program that provides DukeHave interaction alumni the chance to pursue an impartial challenge overseas — Dhruv Rungta launched into this photojournalism challenge in 2024 with the assistance of his mentors on the Duke Center for Documentary Studies, Susie Post-Rust and Chris Sims. 

Titled “Coexistence,” Rungta’s pictures depicts the individuals of Ruam Thai, a small village in Southern Thailand whose economic system is closely depending on pineapple farming. The images additionally depict the elephants, who’re lured out of the neighboring Kuiburi nationwide park by the candy odor of the pineapple. Elephants can simply destroy a yr’s price of crops by consuming them and stomping on the younger crops.

In order to guard their crops, villagers maintain watch in the course of the evening. With the assistance of park rangers, they drive the elephants away with firecrackers and weapons, pursuing them on motorbikes. These confrontations create harmful conditions for people and elephants each.

But together with documenting this battle, Rungta’s images additionally present how villagers are in search of to mediate it — both by planting completely different crops that don’t entice elephants, like lemongrass and chili peppers, or selling ecotourism to the world, which diversifies earnings streams.

Exploring the connection between people and the atmosphere — together with options for enhancing it — is a key driver of Rungta’s research in Ecology, Economics, and Sustainable Development, a significant he created via Program II. A current Duke Today profile explores how Rungta’s path was formed by his participation in DukeHave interaction Costa Rica and his Decaminada Fellowship.

Visitors are welcome to cease by the West Duke Building throughout enterprise hours and see the exhibit, which runs till the top of the calendar yr. Rungta has additionally just lately revealed his images and an accompanying essay in Conservation Mag, a web-based publication devoted to elevating consciousness of wildlife and nature.