Ballot Box by Hari Kishan

Ballot Box is a satirical work on today’s idea of democracy. It reflects the rigid, closed, and manipulated system driven by hierarchy, class, race, and division. The sickles represent symbols of the working class, farmers, and other labouring communities.The work shows how they become half-submerged in the system, permanently embedded, silently watching the theatre of mockery, and are silenced within its structure.

The molten bubble, or eruption, emerging from the surface, represents the suppressed anger and grief of these communities, ready to erupt, travelling through the loopholes of the system and the so-called democracy. The choice of materials also indicates the tension between labour, democracy, and power. The Ballot Box becomes a silent yet explosive object. One that does not collect votes, but rather collects violence, unheard appeals, resistance, and dissent.

This artwork was exhibited at Method in the group exhibition "The Parliament is Now in Session" (August 2025)