My work draws from the struggles of the working class migrants, whose dreams are curtailed by their reality. One of the important characteristics of human civilization has been the concept of migration, where migrants have survived in the most trying geographical regions. My focus has been on the metropolitan cities of India where I have explored concerns of displacement, survival and separation.

These migrants’ lives are concentrated in slums, which symbolise the stark socio-economic inequality in a metropolitan landscape, and highlight the vulnerable existence of its inhabitants. These slums are illegally built against the backdrop of a municipal wall in the middle of a residential area or on the roadside. Built with found scrap material and with no proper electricity or sanitation provision does not stop people from all over to pour into houses like these in their city of dreams.

The male figures represent the vulnerability that is bought out in paper, unframed and highly exposed. Nonetheless, inspite of the vast challenges, there also remains some room to nurture and cherish hopes and aspirations, notwithstanding the bleak backdrop, coupled with the geographical dislocation and the loss of a personal identity stemming from their migration.

Surbhi Bahl
August, 2010