Written by Vandana Kalra |Updated: January 17, 2019 7:51:49 am
Art student Umesh Singh discusses the deepening farming crisis at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale
At a time when loan waivers to farmers have become a political issue, Umesh Singh, the postgraduate student of fine art at SN School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad, has brought the voices of the farmers to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale though his exhibit that features in the Student’s Biennale segment of the 108-day event that began on December 12.
Artist Umesh Singh did not know Dashrath Bind — the debt-ridden farmer in Bind Toli in Bhojpur district who committed suicide in April last year after his mango crop was destroyed due to unseasonal hailstorm — but when he read about him in news reports, he could relate with his miseries. “It is getting increasingly difficult to survive through farming. Something needs to be done urgently,” says Singh, 26.
At a time when loan waivers to farmers have become a political issue, the postgraduate student of fine art at SN School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad, has brought the voices of the farmers to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale though his exhibit that features in the Student’s Biennale segment of the 108-day event that began on December 12.
His installation Uncomfortable Tools is an assemblage of over 50 farming tools belonging to erstwhile farmers from across Bhojpur — which is among the 33 districts declared drought-hit by the Bihar government in October — who have abandoned farming for other means of livelihood. There are also tools belonging to Singh’s father who left cultivation on his farmland in Kurmuri village, 40-odd kilometers from Bind Toli, a decade ago, to take up the profession of a security guard in Hyderabad.
“He would put his heart into ensuring a good crop but financially, it was getting difficult to make ends meet. The farmers are being left with no choice but to quit in order to survive,” says Singh. To represent their predicament, he attaches the tools to parasitic wood that does not yield any purpose and spreads further infection. “Farming is in a similar situation. Who will produce food for people to consume?” questions Singh.
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