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.The artwork is a map of the world that has been painted using two different colours, which, according to her, are symbolic of the colonial project: crimson for the former colonisers to indicate the blood they are built on, and gold leaf to symbolise the cultural and economic wealth that was lost during the colonisation process.The painting is part of a series titled Colonialism and the Climate Crisis, currently on display at the United Nations in New York as part of Canvas for Change, an exhibition organised by ICAAD, showcasing “the role of art in confronting urgent intersectional global human rights issues, including environmental degradation and the climate crisis, racial discrimination, colonialism, and migration,” as the UN website puts it.