Two children melt into each other whilst they share a hug. 
A bunch of children reach up to the sky – their bird like hands raised in flight.
A girl and a bird are lost to the world, encircled in their conversation.

Chuguli Kumar Sahoo’s recent works are overwhelmingly focused on the depiction of young children – and more particularly at the naturalness of children at play.  The first impression when we see these sculptures is a romantic Wordsworthian response – “My heart leaps up” – seeing the pure joy on these innocent faces. Or is it…look again!  Is it the innocence of a child engrossed and complete in her own world of play or is it our adult eyes which seeks the idea of innocence?  Is innocence a shield?

Is the leaping of our hearts a seeking of an Edenic return, to a time which can only be imagined?  A time lost, as innocence was lost and which we try and recover through notions of naïve nostalgia.  Chuguli’s works make us look askance at both innocence and experience.  At worlds which we feel are as true as our bones but are also as unutterable as silence.