Girjesh Kumar Singh Carves Lost Homes Into Brick Sculptures

Vadodara sculptor Girjesh Kumar Singh turns discarded bricks and cement from demolished buildings into works of art. The 45-year-old artist uses fragments of fallen structures to examine displacement, personal memory, and physical migration.

Singh gathers his raw materials directly from demolition sites, old buildings, and razed railway sites. He carves these rough materials into detailed human forms. His work reflects what families carry with them when their houses disappear.

Between 2006 and 2008, Singh began viewing broken buildings differently while travelling near his hometown. He observed ruined structures in Shravasti and Chunar. Soon after, he moved away from quarry stone to experiment with salvaged brick.

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“Bricks have their own character, colour and texture that itself has a very human story sometimes,” Singh said. For his series titled Haal Mukaam, he gathered bricks from The Royal Saloon Shed. The shed was built in Baroda around the 1880s for royal railway coaches.

When workers demolished the building, Singh salvaged its materials to preserve its memory.

In another series named In Transit, figures sculpted from old bricks carry luggage while leaning on gallery walls. Singh noted that the bags represent physical and emotional baggage during difficult relocations. He also created Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, featuring small heads carved from single bricks with mortar attached.

“I carve all the surfaces with fine needle detailing: it adds dimension, creates curiosity, and invokes memory. But I don’t have full control over how the brick will shape up,” Singh shared. “If it breaks, I accept that too.”.

Singh grew up in the village of Semra. At age five, his family sent him to live with his aunt. He later attended Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, a rural residential school located over 160 kilometres away.

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Even after living 20 years in Vadodara, Singh maintains deep links to his village.

Singh earned his BA at Allahabad University, studying philosophy, literature, and economics. He completed a BFA in Banaras and an MFA in Sculpture at Maharaja Sayajirao University. Today, his work reaches beyond local studios through Rukshaan Art Studio and presentations at the India Art Fair.

His brick sculptures have also appeared in galleries across Chicago, London, Dubai, Istanbul, and Singapore.