Finding Beauty In Broken Glass

Artist Sisir Sahana makes imposing glass sculptures using discarded materials

- Rewati Rau

When Sisir Sahana was invited for a residency at Pittsburgh Glass Centre, USA in January 2019, he had a simple request – please don’t throw away discarded glass material and keep it safe. They willingly agreed and Sahana was greeted with three to four bags of glass scrap when he arrived.

And that was all that he needed. Artist Sahana who makes sculptures with discarded material says, “Giving rebirth to material which is thrown away gives me immense enjoyment. According to me roots, flowers, shells, broken glass are not rejected pieces. They have a thinking and language of their own.” Armed with the scrap bags, Sahana created 12 stunning sculptures at the residency, which he later completed in his home turf, Santiniketan. These sculptures are now exhibited at Delhi’s Gallerie Ganesha in an exhibition titled ‘A dialogue with Soil’. We catch the artist lost in thought in the gallery who says, “Sometimes it’s good to look at your work like this when it’s exhibited. It gives you a different perspective.”