CHENNAI: Anything can inspire creativity, even e-waste that is hazardous to health and perceived as junk. Electronic engineer R Durga Prasad, keeping his skills and educational background in mind, decided to put it to good use by pursuing this line of art.
“My mother is an artist. She loves collecting idols of Lord Ganesha and has around 300 of them. I’ve imbibed this admiration for toys and hobby of collecting miniatures from her. Since childhood, I’ve been collecting scented erasers, stamps, coins, Hot Wheels cars and Happy Meal toys from McDonald’s. Everything is stored in my trunk box. I would have over 100 of them in each category.
My love for miniatures combined with a flair for art pushed me to think out of the box in my field. That’s when the idea of e-waste art popped up,” said Durga, a resident of Chrompet. He graduated in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from St Joseph College of Engineering in 2015. He has been working in a leading battery manufacturing company as a service engineer in the city for the past four years.
Taking part in Art Fleamart by The Paper Dolphin in Bengaluru this October opened his perspective to varied areas to explore in e-waste art.
“I knew the objects I wanted to work with but they required an aesthetic touch. The art exhibition was a turning point for me to observe what the customers wanted. I had displayed a few bookmarks made of computer RAM, mini E bots made of electronic spare parts and fridge mangers made of circuit boards. An engineer purchased 10 mini E bots from me and that was a big step. It encouraged me to channel my ideas more effectively,” said the artist.
Durga started pursuing this hobby seriously every day after work for two hours. Unlike scrap art, he feels that e-waste art is still in its nascent stages. The artist takes inspiration on Instagram from other foreign artists who pursue this full-time. Inverter diodes, chipboards, old batteries — name it and you will find them as components in his work. Durga sources these objects from Ritchie Street and old scrap dealers.
“Finding these parts is not challenging. One has to do a lot of groundwork to see what fits where. Each part has a specification. People usually hunt for these with description but I specify my use based on the kind of art I need them for and buy them from these shopkeepers. The objects have to be miniature to be affordable and that’s when people will buy it. I’m also looking for corporate orders,” said Durga.
He wants to incorporate chips into accessories, jewellery and stationery. Imagine multi-coloured light glowing in your earrings or pendants with the LED options. The artist will also be taking part in the fourth edition of Art Fleamart in December in the city.
Mini E bots are priced at Rs 100.
For details, visit his Instagram page: The E-Art store/dps_laboratory