Untitled

Bijan Chowdhury was famous for his paintings on the political turbulence of the 60s and the 70s in Calcutta. This work by him stands out in its peaceful rendering of everyday life. The artist depicts a mundane moment in a cattle-owning household with two women engrossed in daily tasks. The woman in the foreground is working on a boti, a cutting implement with a curved blade attached to a wooden platform, very commonly used as a kitchen tool in India for cutting fish, vegetables, meat etc. The artist’s portrayal of this extremely common homely scene of women at ’work’ can be seen as an exploration of the many aspects of domestic labour which upholds a household.