This paired work emerged from the artist’s time at the burning ghats of Varanasi- where devotion, grief, beauty, and neglect exist simultaneously. Working at architectural scale, Bakshi turned to stained glass for its ability to both reveal and wound: light passes through the surface without softening it. Brutal, radiant, and unforgiving, the material allows illumination to coexist with sharpness, mirroring the moral clarity and violence of the place itself. These were the artist’s first stained-glass works, created experimentally, with scale, light, and material leading the narrative.

Enlightened Mother

One of the artist’s first stained-glass works, executed at architectural scale. Designed for backlighting, the piece uses transparency and color to create a quiet, luminous presence integrated directly into the surrounding space.

Inspired by scenes witnessed by the artist on the ghats of the Ganga, the work depicts a swaddled child protected by a rising serpent, with divinity and awakening radiating through the mother’s illuminated form.

Commissioned for a private residential club, Central Park Resorts, Gurugram, India.

Impoverished Widow

Created alongside Enlightened Mother, this early stained-glass work explores the emotional and structural potential of glass at monumental scale. Strong color contrasts and backlighting heighten its direct, confrontational presence.

Drawn from the artist’s observations along the ghats of the Ganga, the work reflects the fate of widows—often banished to ashrams and exploited, including being forced into prostitution—exposing a harsh reality beneath ritualized devotion.

Commissioned for a private residential club, Central Park Resorts, Gurugram, India.