The End - The Beginning (Shuru - Shesh)

The idea of this project was conceived a while back and somehow seemed urgent when my father passed away in 2025. After being estranged from him for close to 3 decades, I had entertained thoughts of wanting to see him, given I had moved to Kolkata and he only lived a few hours away. After his passing, and unable to cover those few hours of distance, there was immense regret, and somehow this idea became more important than ever, needing to be explored.

The work was performed upon finalizing my departure from Bengal in 2026, a place I had returned to in 2022 after years of living away. The burning of the sculpture felt like a ritual to mark the end of this period, where I had to come to terms with a lot of my childhood memories, the sudden absence of my father when I was 6/7 years old, other painful instances of the past that kept re-surfacing as triggers, and the grief of losing a life that could have been.

The symbol of fire is deeply ingrained in the culture I was born into. Fire is vital in the rituals that follow the cycle of life, from birth to a person’s passing, signifying purity, transformation, and knowledge. I found it fitting to honor my own rebirth as I emerged from this intense period in my life. During the burning ritual, as I looked up from the camera, there seemed to be a woman standing defiantly wrapped in fire, like a warrior offering a reminder to continue, regardless of what lies ahead.

To create this work, I returned to a place called Purulia, a place not far from where I was born. This land is known for its beautiful palm forests, an abundance of spring blossoms, and parrots, which inhabit in large numbers, feeding on mangoes; yet the land also has a history of resource extraction and the exploitation of the local indigenous population.

While the idea for this work emerged a few years ago, its realization came at a moment of extreme global instability, when it felt as though we were collectively standing at a breaking point. In this context, the work became an attempt to imagine and move toward a different temporality that is shaped by renewal, care, and regeneration, gesturing toward the possibility of rebirth, of what might emerge if we begin to step away from the enduring violences of colonization and capitalism, and instead return to more grounded, interconnected ways of being.