Right out of the 300-year-old idol making hub of Calcutta, India, Kumartuli, this photograph portrays a striking moment that I captured last year with heavy droplets of rain rolling down the wooden fringes and an artist rushing back to his workshop; the shadow of a freshly created idol peeping out is the testimony of their craft, sheathed with persistence.
As the largest festival in Bengal “Durga Puja” sets in, the workload of the skilled artisans increases exponentially and they pray to the Divine Goddess hoping the rain stays away. This is attributable to the pathetic condition of their workshops, the leakages on the porous roofs end up “brutally” damaging the clay idols & their spirit.
However, when the prayers were not answered in the year 2021, I decided to venture into this iconic spot with the aim to document those moments of struggle.
Location - India
Edition – 1/1
Dimensions – 4016x6016
*The collector will get a high resolution 20x24 sized print of this photograph.
