Wage series

Wage Key words: labor, monuments, minimal structures, geometry and space, metal, daily wage In my current practice as a sculptor I am trying to achieve forms that are minimal in structure, yet have a pertinent geometrical language, which lets me to place my critique of the way the society look at labor, laborers and the human costs of the skills they possess. I am working on a series of small-scale paperboard maquettes, which will be translated into larger metal sculptures. In my public sculptures, I usually work with mild steel, stainless steal, bronze etc. These materials provide me a comprehensive result, bringing strength and longevity to my ideas and forms. Bright paints create a layer of familiarity and affection towards otherwise sharp and heavy material and form, which they conceal, inviting the viewer to come closer to the spatial intervention. These forms have highly opinionated surfaces that project in multiple directions. The new series Wage is imagined as monuments dedicated to the labor of people who make our surroundings, working with materials of their craft and survive their daily life through sheer courage and perseverance. I come from a middle class family in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh where I had to learn the value of wages and labor at an early stage in my life. My father works as tailor who has spent his life honing his craft. This series of sculptures highlight how perseverance in crafts help people achieve designs and forms. I want to monumentalize the costs and sacrifices that go into honing of skills that are necessary in crafts. The clean and bright surface of the sculptures are deceptive, the way stories, emotions, pain and sacrifices of laborers are hidden form the products of their craft. The sculptures are designed in such a way as to crystalize the struggles of ‘meeting the ends’. In a society which has a long history and consistency of discriminatory practices where crafts and the labor is made interchangeable with the identities of real people, I feel the urge to place sharp, pointy forms that cut though the air, as reminders for the need to cultivate ruptures that shake us off the comforts that we often take for granted.