The Open Studio / Harish Sharma
Harish Sharma
Two Different Worlds
A fish far from water tries to hide inside the news
The paper is grey with small print and one red stripe.
It folds around the fish like a borrowed shirt.
The scales are dull silver, dry where the water should be.
One amber eye stays open and looks away from us.
Around it the dark ground breaks into old gold, like light under a door.
The fish is still. It is trying very hard to be small.
The work
Harish Sharma paints a fish that has left the water. Its grey body lies on a dark brown ground. A sheet of newspaper wraps around it like a coat. The fish stands for a migrant who hides from a city full of papers. Sharma's family comes from a village in Bihar. His father went to Delhi first to find work. Later the family built a home in Haryana. Sharma studies painting at Jamia Millia Islamia. In acrylic he paints each fold and printed column of the paper.
In the artist’s words
“In Two Different Worlds, a fish out of water symbolises a displaced migrant hiding beneath a newspaper, a metaphor for overwhelming city bureaucracy. Enduring discomfort and vulnerability for his family's future, he shrinks away from an unfamiliar, heavily documented urban life.”
- Theme
- Migration and city life
- Material
- Acrylic on canvas
- Size
- 106.68 × 137.16 × 5.08 cm
- Year
- 2026
- Edition
- This painting is metaphorical depiction of migration
- Framed
- Yes
- About the artist
- Jamia millia islamia
- From
- Faridabad
- Code
- RC-299
