Scarecrows have been the inanimate representation of decoys. My works capturing the different representations/manifestations of the makeshift, decrepit are images that tell a story about how mankind has been deceptive and have cheated the flora and fauna for their own selfish motives. Scarecrows serve a purpose so long as they don’t deny the birds their food. But more than that I am more interested in human innovativeness to use everyday objects to create the other self who is expected to think like and also lead the bird to think that you are thinking. Deception as a representation of the self is in the foreground, laziness as a shadow is in the background. In any case I want to explore the various meanings and layers that are ingrained in the making of a scarecrow. They are called different names in different languages and have various cultural references in culture, particularly popular culture. There have been references and depictions of characters in literature, cinema and music.  

After all, the fiction can begin from the fields.  Here I have shot these Scarecrows as representational elements, playing a vital role in this project. I travelled across India and shot these scarecrows from the field. They got to know from the farmers that they are being mistreated and marginalized by the multinational traders. Some where our system didn’t address the issues wisely.   There I decided to work on the present situations of our farmers. We all knew the country’s farmers started suiciding for petty debts across the country. When I met a few farmers in Ananthpur in Andhra Pradesh told me about the survival challenges.  I took these scare-crows as representational images for me to tell their grievances and helplessness, I used them as an element.