ABOUT RATAN SAHA

Ratan Saha is a Mumbai based artist with a Post Graduate Degree in Sculpture from the illustrious MS University, Baroda. In this latest body of sculptures, Saha deals with the plight and hopes of Indian farmers reeling under the pressure of various agencies that burden them with debts, patented seeds, pesticides, farm tools and data.

Titled ‘God of Seeds’ this exhibition brings out Ratan Saha’s latest sculptures done in copper, brass and bronze. He has been investing his creative energies in his studio and in agricultural fields to understand the lives of the farmers better. He looks at farmers as Gods who protect and perpetuate seeds. Through this exhibition he wants to reiterate the fact that farmers are living gods who deserve much more reverence than we give to the virtual gods.

“Farmers are the annadatas (food givers) of the world,” says Ratan Saha. “They are the unsung heroes in our country. We talk about the slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisaan but it looks like we have forgotten our kisans. Each time we put some food into our stomachs we should be remembering the farmers with a lot of gratitude. We do not do it today and it is my effort to remind all the people about the need to be grateful to farmers. We need to develop a different mindset for taking care of those people who feed us. We need to address their distress and try to alleviate them from their pains. Not only individuals but also the government and corporations should become sensitive towards the farmers’ issues. Otherwise we will be cutting our own legs,” Ratan Saha says.

Saha has travelled to the distressed agricultural areas in the country and has done his documentation and research by interviewing the farmers and the calamity affected family members. Also he has interviewed rural farming and social justice activists like Anna Hazare. Saha’s sculptures speak of the truth of our existence in the times of Post Truth.