EXISTING ON THE PERIPHERY
Participatory Installation as part of Community based Art Project displayed at a public space
1-10 June, 2016
Existing on the Periphery | A project by Anuradha Pathak (Member - CASP Kolkata) as part of the public art festival - Sarsuna Theke Jana / Derives from the Metropolis (June 1-10, 2016) at Sarsuna, Kolkata, in collaboration with Chander Haat & Shelter Promotion Council, India
This community based art project developed with various site visits to Phuchkapara at Khudirampally in Sarsuna, Kolkata.An area said to be the place where most of the population have migrated from Bangladesh and settled mostly from in and around the time of Bangladesh Liberation War. Geographically, Sarsuna is a marshy land and situated towards the southern end of south 24 parganas, very near to the Sundarbands. Here, towards an extreme end a tiny population of Phuchkawalasresides and is called the ‘phuchkapara’. A fairly new migrant population compared to the rest residing there.
Phuchka, a Kolkata street food is made famous by migrant communities from Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. I came across only 4 families at the Phuchkapara, situated in the extreme end of Khudirampally at Sarsuna, who are still in the profession of making and selling phuchkas while rest of the population there have changed their profession with time. These families are all from the Nabada Zila(district) in Bihar, but from different villages.
Interactions with this community led to an engagement with their migrant histories, their experiences of the place and their belonging. They felt despite being residents of that area for around 20 years, they were not given importance like the immigrants/migrants from Bangladesh.
Other questions of economics and livelihood were also discussed through which the idea to design a user-friendly box for the phuchkasemerged. The box was designed with inputs from this community for better capacity and convenience, and was installed in the open days of the public art festival.
The participatory installation was installed at the courtyard of the Mittir Bari(House), considered one of the big traders in Sarsuna. The installation was meant to juxtapose the two economic statures existing in the same part of the area and also to portray the present social positioning of the phuchkawalas in the society.
After the display, the box was returned back to the community. I intend to continue this project as part of Centre for Arts and Social Practice (CASP)’s community engagement program with the women and families of this community.
Thank you
