The Open Studio / Harish Sharma
Harish Sharma
In Transit
Cut the bus open and a young man looks back
Grey all around, like a wall at dusk.
A white sheet, creased and torn at the edges, holds a bus the colour of marigolds.
Someone has cut the bus open.
Inside it is dark and warm and full of shoulders.
One young man in a white shirt holds on and turns his face toward us.
The rest of the bus hangs below him, upside down, still moving.
The work
In Transit is an acrylic painting from 2023 by Harish Sharma. An orange city bus covers a white sheet that looks crumpled and torn. A cut runs across the middle. Through it we see a young man in a white shirt among other passengers. Sharma studies for a Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Jamia Millia Islamia. His family moved from a village in Bihar to Delhi. Later they built their own home in Haryana. When Sharma sees people standing in packed buses, he thinks of his father.
- Theme
- Migrant life in the city
- Material
- Acrylic
- Size
- 52 × 59 × 2.5 cm
- Year
- 2023
- Edition
- No rest
- Framed
- Yes
- About the artist
- Jamia millia islamia
- From
- Faridabad
- Code
- RC-306
In the artist’s words
My name is Harish Sharma, and I am currently pursuing my Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Jamia Millia Islamia, having completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College of Art in Delhi. Being a visual artist, my work doesn't just come from sitting in a studio and mixing colors—it comes from walking down the streets, observing everyday life, and looking closely at the people who keep this big city running. My understanding of migration is not something I just read about in books or observed from a distance; I have lived through it myself. My family’s roots trace back to Bihar, and I know what it feels…
