Kelzang Choden is a shop owner and artist from Khaling in Bhutan. We spoke to her about how creativity and community can make a difference for conservation.
After graduating from Sherubtse College, Kelzang started running a small grocery shop just outside of Sherubtse. Alongside managing the shop, Kelzang started knitting and her work attracted the attention of Sonam Dorji – a filmmaker working with the Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust to raise awareness of the Bhutan Glory butterflies. “Sonam asked if I would be able to produce some nature-related pieces. In the beginning, I created flowers that I’d see around the local area. But then I realised that if I were going to sell them to tourists, they would have been big and difficult to carry. So, I thought of embroidery.”
Sonam was able to source some embroidery kits and Kelzang started experimenting with producing local birds and butterflies using material she had available in her shop. After developing her confidence with the craft, she moved on to embroidering clothing. “I started working with another local lady who weaves clothing and began embroidering these pieces to sell, providing an income for her and myself. My long-term plan is to turn my shop into a souvenir shop for tourists.”
Working on these embroidery pieces, Kelzang has also been inspired to develop her understanding of local wildlife, particularly butterflies. “I now look at my local wildlife with an artist’s eye – I notice their colours and shapes and I’m always looking for new inspiration.”
Kelzang’s work is not just providing an income for her and others in her village, it is also playing a vital role in raising awareness of local wildlife. “My shop is at a junction where people from the community and tourists come to have a drink or buy things. They spend quite a lot of time here talking and chatting and they have begun noticing the pictures and embroidery hung on the wall. It becomes a point of conversation and I can then talk about the species and why it’s important to protect them. Seeing the pictures and art, they also come to appreciate their beauty and majestic colours. I have met locals who, after seeing the pictures, mention that they have seen similar ones in flight. They have subconsciously started observing them.”
Kelzang has also been supporting conservation efforts by providing space in her shop where people can learn more about wildlife. “I’ve created space for Sonam to develop a small library where visitors coming for a drink can also enjoy the books and learn about biodiversity. In the beginning, locals were not entirely convinced. But after creating the small space for books, the local kids started coming and learning about nature. The parents have started to realise that this will benefit them as well.”
There are two species of Bhutan Glory flying in Kelzang’s local area. The Bhutan Glory and Ludlow’s Bhutan Glory, which is Bhutan’s national butterfly. As part of Sonam’s work to document the lifecycles of these species and help conserve them, he has been setting up events and activities in the local community to help people engage with wildlife, including a recent Nature Art Camp, which Kelzang thinks has been an important step in getting the community on board. “Sonam’s work has further convinced them, which is important if conservation efforts are going to be successful. As Sonam says, if the local community cannot see a benefit, then just talking about conservation won’t make a difference. I think Sonam’s efforts are helping people realise the benefits of biodiversity conservation through conservation education and ecotourism.”
Kelzang wanted to stress that small efforts can make a difference. “In my own small way, I am helping through my embroidery. I’m proud that it has reached places like Singapore and America where people have put it in their homes, and I have started to make a little income from it. The kids are benefiting from the small library space in my shop. They come to read books which are generally not found in schools, especially on nature. I have also dug a small portion of my father’s land for planting some flowers to attract butterflies, especially the Bhutan Glory. Some parents have agreed to contribute to the work force. One of the parents of a child who attended the nature camp has put some books in his small restaurant in the town to start encouraging to nearby kids to read about nature. Our constitution mandates that 60% of our forest has to be conserved. If more and more people can emulate what Sonam has done and what the community is doing, here and elsewhere, it will help in achieving this target and protecting our biodiversity.”
