Slice of Life: ‘Waste is a treasure trove for me’

My mind works differently. What might be garbage to others is no less than a treasure to me! People may think that I am crazy but if only they see what I can create out of waste. I have a fulltime job but like to create work of art from waste. For instance, when I saw broken egg shells scattered around the kitchen one day, I knew exactly what to do with them. I painted them and made them float in water. It became a part of a home decor piece I was creating. I don’t like anything to go waste. Except for kitchen waste, nothing non-biodegradable goes inside the garbage box. 

There are so many chocolates wrapped in colourful, shiny papers that are distributed during Christmas. I separate these wrappers and create mushrooms out of them. During the festival, I also make special Christmas cribs out of waste and invite people over to see them. All the artefacts I make, I give it away to friends and family as gifts. 

I make all showpieces at night since I work during the day time. I start at 10 pm and it goes on till early morning hours, the next day. I am 60 and I hate to sit idle. I work during the day and dedicate the nights to art. 

It all started when I was a kid. I grew up in Kerala and would look forward to family weddings. This was not for the food and festivities that comes with it but it was because of the wedding decorations being carried out. I would keenly watch people work on the decorations and try to emulate them later with whatever I could get hold of. As I grew up, I kept this passion for art alive and took it up as a hobby. I started making artefacts out of anything that I could lay my hands on.

I feel that there is so much to learn in the field of art and I don’t want to limit myself. I want to do more because I feel that the more you explore, you become a better artist.