Home For The Homeless II
2023 | Terracotta, Iron
Being part of the same social structure and geography does not automatically imply being part of a community. Prithviraj Mali believes the whole world is a family and humanity is our ultimate responsibility; which means that everyone inevitably has a role to play.
As an artist and human being he is nourished by the idea that we are connected through feelings of brotherhood, responsibility and sensitivity, without any limitations. We need home projects, not housing projects. He is moved by honeybee colonies where migrations occur regularly and each new hive is a combined effort to contain larvae, stores of honey and pollen.
As the pressures of rising populations, environmental damage and political turmoil mount, forced migration everywhere has become imminent. Housing is an urgent need for marginalized people driven away from their homelands. Mali’s question: “In our own country, are we successful in the goal of providing shelter and security to all, or have we failed?” remains a question for each of us.
PRITHWIRAJ MALI was born in 1978 in Bargan near Sundarban, West Bengal. He was brought up in a rural environment where he completed his primary education, during which the regional socio-cultural values had a deep impact on him. He was also deeply influenced by the socialist ideologies arising from the findings of the natural disasters in the region, and also the notches of partition and miserable migrations of India.
He has studied at the Government College, Calcutta and the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda i. While pursuing post-graduation at Baroda, his artwork reflected the regional sentiments and socio-political aspects of Bengal. He successfully portrayed the serious concerns of society with humor.
In 2006, he had the opportunity to work with Hervey Hood at the Berllanderi Sculpture Workshop in South Wales, United Kingdom. He eventually moved to Vadodara as a practicing artist, and spent fifteen years as an academic in several architectural institutions and also participated in national and international art exhibitions. This exposure provided a new dimension and language to his ideas, which is reflected in his artwork. He lives and works in Vadodara as a freelance artist.
