I have seen thousands of statues abandoned or simply neglected across the country.
Our faith systems lead us to believe that even a stone can acquire divinity through pran pratishtha (or establishment of soul and spirit). A dash of vermillion, the presence of a benevolent tree, and another deity comes into being to revere, to worship. In the case of unreligious statues, however, often this reverence quickly dissipates, as if the soul has left the body, as if the statue is all stone again. Soon the sculpted likeness of a once-loved political figure or national hero loses sheen, its stature reduced to a forlorn shadow, often at the centre of a busy square, a tattered old garland perhaps still hangs around the neck. Respect is lost — both for the artist and the icon he chiselled out of a featureless rock.
This bothers me, and even though I can’t do much to change what is really a collective, selective amnesia, I feel that by merely recording them through the lens, I add another annotation to this curious phenomenon.
Yet new statues rise every year, for our society needs to venerate, however transient that may be. An all-important hanger to conveniently hang our faith or ideology on. And to promptly forget.
( Gireesh GVis a Delhi-based photographer. These images are part of his ongoing project Decorative Soldiers.)