Artist Antonio Puri depicts racial, caste bias through colours

Ajay Ramola

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, October 21

Philadelphia-based artist Antonio Puri succeeded in creating awareness among students of Woodstock School against racial and caste discrimination on the school campus here yesterday. Puri was born in Chandigarh.

Dr Jonathon Long, principal of Woodstock School, inaugurated the project amid a thunderous applause from students, who were also part of the project. Puri spent his last few months in the school and started working with his latest project ‘Varna’, which in Sanskrit means ‘colour’. The project was based on themes emerging from the caste system in India and through art it tried to raise questions and were able to fuel a discussion among students and staff of the school.

Puri described art as his “religion” and began the work of collecting a palette of colours drawn from the actual skin tones of all students and staff on the campus. The colours were incorporated into a large sculpture of the DNA helix that was installed on the school campus. “The project has been inspired by the Varna system mentioned in the Rig Veda,” said Puri.

He added the basis of the caste system followed today had no origin in these ancient texts. “On the contrary, the Varna system in the Rig Veda speaks about four castes or classes in a body and not

in society. It divides the body according to its work, but people have created the caste system and divided society in a discriminatory manner.”

The project has been able to stir up an engaging mix of curiosity and introspection. As students and staff match what they think their skin tones are with a palette of colours and then paint these tones on the strips of paper, the scene is set for meaningful discussions around stereotyping, discrimination and identity.

Students have responded positively to Puri’s work, describing it as, “beautiful”, “empowering”, and “thought-provoking.” Jonathan Long sees the project as, “resonant with key themes in Woodstock’s philosophy of life. He further says the project conveys the things that really define the human beings and not the superficial differences which often divide us. Dr Long is of the view that the Varna project teaches people that beneath the surface of colour, creed and culture is a common humanity which binds them, inexorably, to one another.

Woodstock School’s head of art Margaret Groff summed up the project’s impact, “I’m so used to describing myself as “white”—so I’m now searching for another word.” The students have experienced working alongside a professional artist and learnt to look at one of the world’s major problems through an artist’s lens. The feeling of ownership is what they feel on the completion of the project today.