Jaipur Sculptor Creates 'Biography' With Cigarette Butts
Prashant Pandey worked for five years for his solo exhibition to be held at an Art Gallery in Mumbai from January 8 to 11.
Published : January 6, 2026 at 6:55 PM IST
Jaipur: Giving a new identity to the cigarette butts scattered on the roads, footpaths and other public places, a Jaipur-based sculptor has presented them as a living social document in his solo exhibition. Prashant Pandey worked for five years to come up with his exhibition 'Biography' that is scheduled to be held at Gallery Maskara in Mumbai from January 8, 2026, to January 11, 2026.
His work involves collection, cleaning, treatment and reweaving over 3.5 lakh cigarette butts into huge artistic creations. Prashant claims that his artwork raises questions not only about the environment but also about the invisible behaviour of society. He said that his personal experience suggests love, hate and love again. It is on these lines that his Biography aims to convey a message to society.
Talking about his exhibition, Prashant said that he has redefined waste not just as an environmental problem but as narrative material. "Each cigarette butt captures a moment, a pause in a conversation, a habit of passing time or a breath. These seemingly insignificant fragments, when combined, transform into structures resembling skin, leaves, internal organs and cosmic landforms," he said.
He explained that apart from time, the process of creation has also played an important role. He said that each leaf-like figure took about a month to create, while the works displayed in the exhibition took five years to develop.
He said this can also be understood as the layers of gestures hidden in small everyday actions which despite being fleeting, become long-lasting memories.
Prashant explained that it took him over five years to collect the cigarette butts. This was done with the help of Jaipur's cafes, streets and smoking zones. His exhibition also conveys the message that cigarette butts are not just garbage but one of the most dangerous plastic pollutants for the environment. They take years to decompose and harm both the soil and water.
If livestock consume them, they can develop life-threatening diseases like cancer. He said that by highlighting this issue through art, he has tried to combine both awareness and sensitivity.
This exhibition is sure to give the visitors a special experience as soon as they enter the venue, where the artworks swinging in the air will give the feeling of dry leaves falling from a tree. Prashant said that the figures hanging in the air, flowing, falling, and gathering, will not feel like a monument but a biography of each breathing person. This biography is not of one person but of countless anonymous people whose unrecorded lives are contained in these cigarette butts.
He went on to state, “We're trying to show that what we discard as garbage also speaks." Through the process of collecting, cleaning, tying and weaving the cigarette butts, he has transformed these remains into evidence, making ‘Biography’ a record of an invisible social body and its time.
Prashant belongs to the fourth generation of a traditional marble artisan family from Rajasthan. His father created several important artworks, including the family of Lord Ram for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Engaged in this work since childhood, Pandey witnessed firsthand the devotional labour and waste associated with temple construction and sculpture, along with the resulting waste. This sparked a desire in him to work outside the box.
Prashant holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in Sculpture from Rajasthan University and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from MS University in Vadodara.
In 2011, he was selected for an artist residency at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he worked with renowned Arte Povera artist Giuseppe Penone. This experience deepened his understanding of material, process and art creation.
Prashant has used materials like marble waste, blast stone, cigarette butts, blood slides, industrial scrap and organic remains in his work. His sculptures clearly show the marks of labour, utility and decay. He held his first solo exhibition, ‘Shelf-Life’ in 2010. He later presented ‘Shelf Life II’ in 2012. Prashant is a recipient of the Lalit Kala Akademi Award (2009, 2010) and the Bhupen Burman Award.
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