The title of the exhibition immediately took me to many instances when i have felt hope and despair during my days of journalism. This included rampant pollution that reduced beautiful rivers to sewage canals, quarrying that razed mountains to the ground, beautiful mangrove forests being destroyed for development and loss of age-old eco friendly agricultural practices. The paintings that I am including here are all done with acrylic on canvas and seeks attention for their conservation. The first one depicting hope, has the flowers of Buchanania barberi, a critically endangered tree as per the IUCN Red Data. Only two mature trees exists in the world. The second one is just a tiny section of what was once a flourishing mangrove forest that spread over acres and acres, now reduced to just stumps as if ravaged by a fire, destroying the habitat for a large number of fishes, frogs and birds. The third one is about the girl child, also an endangered lot, about which nothing much is talked about. It is an image that was left in my brain after an 8 year old girl child was gang-raped and murdered. what i have represented are her clothes and a moon like innocent face.