Hyderabad: Using art to convey the plight of migrant workers

From growing up in a small village in Jharkhand’s Giridih to gaining a reputable identity, Arjun Das’ life is inspiring one

Hyderabad: Sculptures made of recycled wood, disparate elements thrown together forming a makeshift shelter, tools used by daily wagers, and other elements crucial to the city workers’ everyday reality, the ‘Land of Leal’ by Arjun Das showcases day-to-day banal reality of marginalised and migrant working class.

From growing up in a small village in Jharkhand’s Giridih to gaining a reputable identity, Arjun Das’ life is inspiring one. His debut solo show is currently on at Dhi Artspace in Ameerpet.

Arjun’s raw and honest storytelling deals with the lives of younger generation workers who go in search of a new life in the city, an imagined heaven. He attended a government school in his hometown and decided to go to Kolkata in search of work at a very young age of 11. However, he resumed studies two years later, while working at a local dhaba. “Back in my village, most of us had a dream of going to the city and making something big out of ourselves. For us, the city is a heaven, opening many doors, but the reality and the plight are a different story,” he says.

Arjun was drawn to art since he was a child. Back home, during chhat puja, the colours and lights around it mesmerised him to sketch the life he has seen on the porch and parapet using the earth pigments he collected from the ‘alpana’ designs.