Stamped Resistance
HOMES THAT REFUSE TO DISAPPEAR
Stamped Resistance chronicles the enduring struggle of a working class settlement in Adambakkam, whose residents were among the earliest urban settlers of the locality, having been allotted land by the Harijan Welfare Board in the mid-1960s. For decades, these communities transformed the once peripheral landscape into a place of belonging and livelihood. However, since the early 2000s, they have faced the persistent threat of eviction amid mounting pressures from the real estate lobby. The artwork captures not only the violence of displacement—where homes have been demolished up to sill level, leaving fragile kutcha structures rising above the ruins as witnesses to survival—but also the collective resistance of the community. The court case numbers inscribed at the entrances of
their homes stand as symbols of defiance and legal assertion, marking the beginning of a renewed struggle pursued since 2022. Through these remnants and acts of resistance, the work bears testimony to a community's refusal to surrender its history, dignity, and right to remain, transforming ordinary thresholds into monuments of memory, resilience, and the continuing fight for justice.
