Arjun Patel

Dhokra is the oldest known metal-casting technique in the world — over 4,000 years old. We use the lost-wax method: a clay core, beeswax threads wound around it, then covered in clay and fired. The wax melts out and molten brass flows in. No two pieces are ever identical. I belong to the Ghadwa community in Bastar. My father made bells for cattle; I make art for homes. Each figurine carries the spirit of our tribal stories — the horse that carries souls to the afterlife, the owl that guards the village.