Shwetangna Chakrabarty

Blooming Flourishing Hibiscus,-water colour by Shwetangna Chakrabarty At a recent conference on flourishing in the Anthropocene, I found myself sitting with two feelings that are not always easy to hold together: intellectual curiosity as well as deep discomfort. The conference brought together urgent and necessary questions. What does it mean to flourish in an age where human activity has become a geological force?

Deep Reflections: Watercolour by Shwetangna Chakrabarty A few weeks ago, I participated in a workshop with the International Bateson Institute that offered more than a conceptual framework; it invited a shift in how we perceive data itself, through a deeply humanising lens. Rather than viewing data as a static collection of numbers, facts, or isolated data points, warm data encourages us to consider the relationships and contexts that give meaning to information.

Mother and Child: Oil on Canvas by Shwetangna Chakrabarty inspired by African art on her wall In a world increasingly described as VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous), the question many parents ask is not simply What will my child learn? but How will my child learn to navigate the world they inherit? A world they will inherit after decades of war with a lot of orphaned population; something that has become our reality especially with the recent war.