Bengaluru-based artist showcases paintings at the United Nations headquarters in New York

Like many Indians, Namita Kulkarni grew up hearing the phrase “third-world countries” as a derogatory term for former European colonies, primarily in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. “A far more truthful label would be historically pillaged countries, but we know even our history books were written by colonisers who had no interest in owning up to the ugly truth of their centuries of violence and theft,” she elaborates in the text accompanying Coloniser Crisis , a painting that depicts the colonial dimensions of the current climate crisis.