“She sends me to fetch water very early in the morning Oh! Grandfather it is very difficult for me My pot never fills up fully the water is so deep, that my rope hardly reaches it the sun rises and also sets by the time, I return unable to collect even one pot-full of water” – A folk song of Rajasthan tells the story of scarcity of water in Rajasthan and even decades after Independence the issues of potable water is the major faced by thousands of villagers.
Jaipur based independent filmmaker and photographer Abhishek Kumawat chose photography as a platform to show how the scarcity of water has eventually led the migration of villagers in Rajasthan.
This exhibition portrays the life and spaces of people who migrated from villages to city because of water scarcity, lack of jobs and identity crisis. Rurban as a word is fusion of rural + urban. It’s important to explore the interactions and conflicts of this amalgamated space. The migratory bird “Demoiselle Crane” in winters, migrates from Central Asia and Siberia to Rajasthan and popularly known as Kurjan in local culture and folk songs – a symbol of migration.
In this exhibition, my interest is to understand the psychological and geographical aspects of this shift, especially shift in their consciousness when they migrate to city/cities for survival and not because of any aspirations.
Medium: Black & White
Exhibition Venue: Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
Dates: 28 April – 4 May
The solo photo exhibition, Rurban Kurjan beginning from Sunday at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
Jaipur Beat 