Binod Mallick

I Binod Mallick an Indian painter, printmaker, and animator, currently residing in Kanchrapara, West Bengal. The topic I have chosen for the artworks is – Working Class Society. The reason behind me choosing this topic is because while growing up I had come across many workers and laborer’s and I deeply intrigued by their daily life activities, so much so that I wanted my artwork to be based on their life and their struggles.

My father was a coal miner and my mother a simple housemaker. As a kid I used to live in a camp in Hyderabad, India. Growing up I was extensively exposed to the livelihoods of coal miners and other workers. My extended family also belongs to the working-class group. My uncles back here in Kolkata where carpenters. As a young child when I came back to Kolkata, I again witnessed the way their daily lives unfold. These experiences had made a deep impact on the budding artist’s mind. So, when I started my career as an artist, working with laborer’s as my subject appealed to me the most.

I attended Burdwan College and received my bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from there and later joined the world-renowned Visva-Bharati University to pursue my master’s degree in Printmaking. There once again I came in close contact with local mill workers and artisans involved in various other crafts. I finished my master’s degree successfully, participated in numerous exhibitions and sold out several paintings. As a young artist, it motivated me further that people were taking interest in my artworks. I then landed my first job offer in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh and eventually moved out of Kolkata. I worked there diligently and during leisure would spend my time with the local industry workers, their lifestyle touched me. Even till this day I express their phases through my artworks.

For more than a year I worked as an art facilitator in a public school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. There I made many newspaper appearances regarding my artworks and book publishing. I finally quit my job just before the pandemic hit the country in the hopes of realizing one true dream – spreading the knowledge of my art throughout India.

Currently I am the Chairman and Director of S. N. Das Art and Cultural Trust. It was founded in the year of 1994 and was finally registered as a non-profit organization in 2015. Previously I was the H.O.D. of the Fine Arts Department of Maa Anandmayee Memorial School. In 2015, I established a Non -Government Organization named S. N Das Art and Cultural Trust. In 2020, this NGO was Registered by NITI Aayog and MSME. The purpose of creating this board of trustees is to give a good Fine Art Education to the poor children and make them skillful so that they can do well in future.

All thanks to my fellow members and their tireless efforts. I am currently focused on uplifting children of slum dwellers and daily wage laborer’s by providing them free-of-cost art education. Our trust was sponsored twice by Polo Company and organised events and gave us art supplies to the needy and budding artists for free.

This NGO has four more artists from Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, and Mumbai. They are helping poor children through our board of trustees and making them skillful so that they can work in the future and build their own life.