Bharti Pitre's Paper Mache Sculptures Are Animated Depictions Of India's Diversity

I am a fat girl. It's okay. Don't freak out. I'm allowed to say that about my self, especially when I can finally do it without any contempt. Over the years, my gaze has shifted towards bodies. The critical eye has finally left the building and all that's left now, when I look in the mirror, is a body. One that tells a story. Because that's what bodies do. Like characters in an animated movie - the slender, fantastic Mr fox, the giant Dragon Warrior Po, the tiny but highly demanding Edna from the Incredibles, bodies become an extention of one's personality and identity. When you can look beyond what "should" be (not an easy feat, thanks to capitalism and the beauty industry), a rich history and depth of our personhood reveals itself through our bodies.

Mumbai-based paper mache artist Bharti Pitre does something similar with her sculptures. Her characters are inspired by the everyman we see in the cities. But through their physicality and an intentional lack of faces, their bodies become the primary storytelling devices. In Bharati's sculptures, people's heads are smaller, disproportionate as if to state their redundancy. You don't need to see the faces to grasp exactly who she is talking about. Sometimes, to make things even crazier, she replaces the heads with animals that best describe the person, making these characters both surreal but very human at the same time.

Bharati started by studying illustration at Sophia Polytechnic in Mumbai and taught the subject at her alma mater for a few years. Her initial experiments were with installations made from found objects. But after attending a paper mache workshop by artist Sharad Kumar, she fell in love with the medium. Apart from characters like a mother and son, a traffic cop, a honeymooning couple, and a group of aunties at a kitty party, Bharati is also known for her chawl series.

Originally built to house industrial workers in the early 1700s, a chawl is a multi-storied, low income housing in South Asia that is divided into many small apartments. Chawls have helped to shape the culture of cities like Mumbai, where migrants brought with them their village-specific cultures, including deities, temples, language, dialects, and eateries. In a way they are a microcosm of India. Many of Bharati's colourful characters are inspired by the people she witnessed in these chawls.

Like a spotlight, Bharati's sculptures shine a light on the people that  usually disappear in the chaotic background of an urban setting. The artist's approach in their characterization through their bodies, attires and body-language brings a really hearty depiction of the fascinating lives people live in the country. Cute would be an understatement. In their simplicity, truthfulness and animation, these characters evoke a cinematic love towards them; a kind of love that would make you want to hang out with them.

Follow Bharati here.

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