The artist who first took to the streets of Mumbai in 2011 and took up the craft of papermaking, Rajendra Kapoor, is still a legend.
The legendary artist has been photographed on the streets and at home, with a crowd gathering around him, and is widely seen as the face and symbol of India’s papermaking renaissance.
But it is his own story that has gained a much wider, and perhaps more contentious, attention.
The first photo I saw of Kapoor was at the Indian Art Institute of America in 2009.
The photographer was posing for the camera with a large print of the artist on his arm.
I didn’t know him at the time.
He was very polite.
When I asked him about it later, he said he was just looking at it.
I asked the photographer to make it into a book and he agreed.
He then took a photo of it, and it was a good thing too.
His work is well-known in the art world and his face has been a popular icon of Indian art for decades.
It wasn’t until a few years later that Kapoor’s life story came out.
It is an extraordinary story.
He came to Mumbai from India and started his career as a printmaker.
At that time, he lived in the very heart of the city.
He started working in the city because he thought the people of Mumbai would buy it if it was made by hand.
He began making paper and later realized that the city had no water supply and the streets were very dirty.
So he built a well and dug it up.
He put the water in it, turned it on, and used it to boil water.
He used to bring in the water and boil it.
So it became a well that was used for boiling water.
Then he started making paper.
It was his work that brought him fame and the opportunity to start making his own art.
He made his own book called Paper: The Story of Papermaking, a book that sold out in a matter of weeks.
In it, he recounts the stories of how his work began, the hardships he faced during his career, and how he came to realize the value of the hand-made and hand-drawn art.
In a recent interview with the Hindustan Times, Kapoor said, “It took me a while to realize how valuable hand-crafted art was.
I thought I was making it by hand, but it was the first time I realised the value in making something by hand and that it was more important to me than money.”
Kapoor says he started to understand that art and the arts of the past could be seen as a tool for social change.
He explained, “The idea of a paper was a symbol for social equality and I thought that papermaking was the tool for making social progress.”
The artist’s journey to Mumbai was a long one.
He arrived in the US in 1974, but moved back to India soon after.
He spent a few months in New York before returning to Mumbai in 1982.
He says that he left behind many of his own problems, including his wife and his mother, whom he never saw.
He lived in a poor neighbourhood where there was no running water, and he was forced to live in the sewers and toilets.
He also had to move around often.
He told me, “In New York, the streets are dirty and the people are so nasty and rude.
The people of the neighbourhood are so rude and disrespectful, they don’t know how to deal with anybody.
So, in Mumbai, the people have changed a lot and there is a better atmosphere.”
He eventually settled in New Jersey and worked for the local newspaper, The Journal News.
He left in 1985, after spending a year as a member of the Indian national guard.
In 1996, he went back to New York to be a photographer.
He decided to start a new career in the industry and started making prints for a magazine called Art, which became known for its provocative content.
He became a household name and has been published in several books and magazines, including Art and Life.
Kapur says, “I was thinking, ‘I’m making art.
I’m making an art.’
I’m not making money, I’m just making a place where I can live.
I was really looking for a new home and I had a big house, and I felt like this is where I’m going to live.’
And it was very hard.”
He left India in 1997 and spent four years in California.
He returned to India in 1999 and made the journey with his wife, Naveen.
They stayed in Mumbai for about four years, living there with Kapoor and his family.
In 2000, they returned to New Jersey.
In 2001, Kapur returned to Mumbai.
They lived there for another five years.
In 2006, Kapor came back to the States.
He wanted to continue making his art, and to be able to get away from India for a year