Sculptor Pradip Patra grew up in rural Midnapore watching the plight of daily wage earners. An empath by nature, he harboured a wish to bring forth the struggles of the working class. The wish has finally seen light with his first solo exhibition, Eeye- NOBODY, at A.M Studio, Bijoygarh.
As a song from Ray’s classic Hirak Rajar Deshe roughly translates to:
“Look how the good at heart live in shacks, but the tyrant sits on a throne. The farmers who harvest the golden crop starve themselves and the diamond miners go penniless in the land of the Diamond-king,”
Patra realised early on how the society as a whole is dependent on the labouring class yet they are the ones who struggle the hardest to make ends meet. He believes they are similar to the pillars that hold up a building.
“They are the ones who facilitate a comfortable living for all of us, yet we keep on pressuring them with our blind demands. In this installation, every material used is straight out of their lives and the conditions they endure for a living,” shares Pradip.
The gallery might not seem extraordinary at the first look, but the whole purpose will only get clearer as you step in. A gate installation made out of iron rods, bamboo and barbed wires is reflective of the societal confinements of a labourer. Watch your step as the dimly lit site is covered with debri that paints the picture of a construction site. The pillars become synonymous with the faceless identity of the working class with rusty iron feet jutting out of them, bearing the weight of the entire establishment.
An alumnus of Midnapore Art College and Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan Pradip shifted to Kolkata roughly seven years back. His rented workshop in the industrial sector near Belghoria pushed him to interact with the workers further. “I realised the society demands them to have no thought processes of their own. They are useful as long as they are puppets to the hierarchy and recognised only by the labour they put in. They are faceless with just bodies that work for us,” adds Pradip.
Eeye-NOBODY is on at the Bijoygarh studio up till March 11.