Farmer's Haat (Market) 1 Favorite 

Farmer's Haat

As a part of the two weeks “Khoj International Art Residency” and “Good Artists of Pune,” Shweta Bhattad, along with others, organized a community art project, titled “Farmer’s Haat.” With the help of students from medical and engineering colleges of Pune, NGOs working in the city, and enthusiastic citizens, Farmer’s Haat invited farmers with their goods and put them in direct contact with their consumers, thereby effectively eliminating the middlemen.

“If likeminded people, who are working in different fragments, come together at one platform, there is scope for change,” explains artist Shweta Bhattad. The Farmer’s Haat space also served as a stage for artists. Painters, musicians, sculptors worked on their art pieces around the vegetable stalls erected for the farmers. The aim was to make this space as vibrant as possible and to encourage social interaction and dialogue.

Shweta Bhattad performed an untitled piece commenting on the deplorable conditions of the Indian farmers. Unreliable monsoons, insufficient irrigation water, high rate of interests on loans, and the rising inflation have contributed to thousands of farmers ending their lives in desperation in Maharashtra alone. The performance was a dramatic take on the farmer suicides. Bhattad lay in a coffin and was buried 2 feet underground for three hours. While in the coffin, she continuously wrote the word Vishwaas (faith), believing that if people came together and collectively decided to take action, there is scope for amelioration.