19/06/2020
We support the 'Art of Walking'.
''The Art of Walking’ is a walk (3rd July – 15th July 2020) from Amsterdam to the refugee camps in Calais, France. The work reflect and raises the awareness and issue of migrant workers in India who are currently walking from big cities to their native villages. The pandemic didn't only fail the nation-state but also showed us the broken capitalist structure. India is in an extreme lockdown, where migrant labourers don't have food to eat, house to live, public transport to go back home. The capitalistic structure built on their blood and sweat is not taking responsibility. The socialist government of India seems to exist only on paper.
After waiting for a few weeks, people started walking, walking long distances, walking for days, weeks, months from 400 to 2200 km. Few died on the way, few lost their kids, few got killed by a train, few survived to reach home. A pregnant woman walking for 1300 km gave birth on the street, again walked for 300 km. These stories and images shook us. One of the reasons is that most of the migrant labourers come from eastern Uttar Pradesh (Pankaj's birthplace) and Bihar. What does it mean to be a migrant artist in Europe, coming from an area, which is the land of millions of migrant labourers? Can I or we represent them, what positions and emotions would emerge from that? What does it mean to walk for 1500 km? What kind of state and system do we live in? All these questions occupy our minds day and night.''
‘The Art of Walking’ is a walk (3rd July – 15th July 2020) from Amsterdam to the refugee camps in Calais, France.