Sanjiivv Sankpal (b. 1967).  Respite Acrylic on canvas 53 x 58.5 cm. (21 x 23 In). Estimate: 900 - 1200 EuroCatalogue note This style of painting is Sanjiivv’s usual subject, of rural people and their livelihood. The painting shows a group of women, who work in a brick kiln, taking a break. The women can be seen standing wearing their colorful sarees covered in mud and clay. The bricks these kiln women make are used to build offices, factories and call centers. These buildings are used by multi-national companies with a global reach, and which make up the cityscapes of a booming economic miracle. But without these women and children, who work 12 to 18 hours a day, even pregnant women, they would not exist. These women work together with roughly 12 million other workers in dusty brickyards across India. But because these women and children belong to India’s so-called lower castes and tribes, some are considered "Untouchables" people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems them impure, less than human, they are often obscured from the public in India. Sanjiivv is showing us that these are the true people who help build our countries. It is not the telemarketing agents, or the Porsche dealers. It is these women. Because without these people there would be no bricks. No bricks, no houses, no offices and no shopping centers. Without them people in India would not have their comfortable offices and shops.