The Mahatma As Muse

An exploration of how Bapu has inspired numerous creative journeys

- Rewati Rau

For Ashim Purkayastha, growing up in Digboi, Assam, meant being privy to a lot of violence. It meant restricted movements and being accompanied by fully armed gunmen even for school celebrations. And that is why the artist always felt a need to question the Father of the Nation.

“One incident I vividly remember hearing about from my parents is Gandhiji standing on the banks of Brahmaputra and saying ‘Aparup Assam’ (beautiful Assam). While we lived in constant unrest, our father of the nation was just talking about the beauty of our place,” says Purkayastha, who now lives in Delhi. His feelings found expression in his work titled Man without Specs, a series of postage stamps. Some of Purkayastha’s stamps are part of the India pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale along with a sculpture with stones collected from different parts of Delhi. “These stones show migration, a topic relevant in Gandhi’s context as he also went and stayed in the rural areas instead of living in a city,” says Purkayastha.