Moni Kumari
B.
1997
"
The travel within
"

I am Moni Kumari, completed MFA (Painting) from college of art , Delhi. My work is based on my personal lived experiences. I live in Sampla, Haryana, and I travel through train to my college. During my train journeys, I observe people and sketch them. Through these observations, I started thinking about people who migrate from their homes to other places for work, just like my father, who moved from Bihar to Delhi with our family in search of better living conditions, education, and income. There is a Hindi phrase: "जितनी चादर है, पैर उतना फै लाओ।" which means one should live according to their means. This proverb has stayed with me and reflects the way my family deal with limitations, compromises, and hopes. The chadar here is more than just a piece of cloth. For me, it becomes a symbol of limited resources, financial struggles, and desires that cannot always be fulfilled. It marks boundaries — it protects, but also restricts. It silently speaks about the inequalities people live with every day. I work with acrylics, pencil, pen, and water-soluble graphite on raw canvas, primed canvas, wood-board and paper.
