here i am: MyGrain: Artwork from Food grains.

MyGrain: Saptarshi Das

The series MyGrain convey food security for all, with agricultural prosperity and a well mannered distribution system in society. I tweak the traditional form of art using food grains by encapsulating with transparent resins permanently, and shaping it with contemporary image forms. The works in this series stand in a single word “ MyGrain” which is a hybrid word like hybrid crops, or seeds like Monsanto, BT Cotton, Kargeel etc.and refers as a whole to the problems and the demands for food or grain for every individual. I have purposely worked with poor quality images (pixilated or low resolution) of poor citizens of the society so that in a macro level the audience can find the proper images from a certain distance while in a micro level one can discover the original material: food grains.

Despite the economic performance, with over 200 million people who are food insecure, India is home to the largest number of hungry people in the world. In the ranking of the Global Hunger Index 2008 it covers position 66 out of 88 ranked countries and has an “alarming“ (23.7) food security situation. The major problem in the country is the high prevalence of underweight children under five, which is a result of low nutrition and educational status of women.

My works dealt with the socio-economic realities of the present India where disparities between the rich and poor are strategically submerged by the glittering skin of globalization. On the one hand people suffer from the lack of grains other hand minority enjoys all the luxuries and pleasures. While people waste enormous amount of food the majority lives below poverty line.