Amol K Patil | Whispers of the Dust

Amol K Patil

Patil’s work centres on the social situation of labourers and the caste system in his homeland. A style of housing known as chawl, characteristic of the tenement buildings that have housed Mumbai factory workers for generations, is a recurring theme in his work. Patil draws inspiration from these spaces, in which these people from the lower castes have traditionally lived, and from which they are now being evicted. The textures of the walls, the old household objects and work clothing are all traces left by people who have remained unseen and unheard. The artist deftly interweaves these social themes with his own family history. Patil’s father was an avant-garde playwright and his grandfather was a poet. Their existing works are now giving rise to new dialogues concerning the identity of the labourer class and the hierarchical politics of caste in India.