Tiny human figures with overflowing luggage, children following their parents, three men on a railway track, a lock and key, an airplane and migratory birds escaping the events on land – these are just a few of the images carved on Rohan Pawar’s recent sculptures. They immediately evoke scenes of the March 2020 lockdown that had triggered the largest human migration in Indian history after the 1947 partition.

In a new show titled ‘This is why we cannot title an exhibition after Love’ at Worli’s Art & Soul, award-winning sculptor Pawar engages with the issue of migration and the inaction of the state towards the needs of a marginalised population, ultimately leading to a human crisis in the face of a collapsing public health system.