Emotional Baggage draws inspiration from an incident I witnessed in Bangalore, where a young child was crying behind the barred window of his home. His mother, who worked as a domestic helper, had left him inside while she went to earn a living. The child longed to be with her, and the incident had an emotional imprint on me while I was trying to calm him down from outside.
The sculpture takes the form of a handbag, symbolising both the mother's livelihood and the emotional baggage carried by the child. Within it, a crying child is depicted in red, symbolising his anger, frustration, and helplessness. The window bars bend into wave-like forms, reflecting the intensity of his emotions and his sense of confinement. Small domestic objects surrounding him establish the familiar environment of his home, which has momentarily become a place of isolation.
On the reverse, the flap of the briefcase takes the form of a pregnant woman, rendered in transparent resin. This represents the mother's perspective, one that remains unseen and perhaps incomprehensible to the child. Her absence is not a lack of love but a consequence of her responsibility to provide for him. The handle of the briefcase takes the form of an umbilical cord, symbolising the enduring connection between mother and child, even through physical separation. The bag's handle representing umbilical cord to show the connection between mother and the child. Through these contrasting perspectives, the sculpture explores the complexities of childhood, motherhood, economic necessity, and emotional memory.
The work does not seek to assign blame. Instead, it questions how circumstances beyond our understanding, particularly during childhood, can shape our emotional world. What may be an act of love and survival from one perspective can simultaneously become an experience of distress from another.
Emotional Baggage invites viewers to consider the unseen weight of these experiences and the ways in which we carry them into adulthood.