Mobile motifs

The video is a documentary on the colourful motifs that adorn the motor vehicles on the Indian highways. The film looks at the social and cultural life of those transport workers whose life is spent on the highways that crisscross the Indian subcontinent. The visual motifs which cover the body of vehicles carry the marks of the nomadic life and experiences of the people who spend their lives on the road. Interviews with the artists who are engaged in painting the easily recognizable motifs on the vehicles, from boats to 'horn please' signs, reveal the demanding nature of their work. They use their skills to not only ornament large goods vehicles like the Punjab body trucks, but also smaller vehicles like autorickshaws, cycle rickshaws and cycle cabs. The style and language of this art form is highly individualistic and expressive of their economic and social circumstances.