He lost legs, art gave him a new life

NEW DELHI: "I am handicapped, I am gay but that doesn't stop me from living my life the way I want," says 41-year-old artist Balbir Krishan, briefing onlookers about his painting in Arpana Art Gallery, Khel Gaon Marg. It's part of an exhibition of works by disabled artists ahead of World Disability Day.
Balbir's family are farmers in Baghpat, west UP.He lost both his legs at the age of 21 in a train accident. "I was doing my master's in Art History at the time. The accident broke me completely. The conditions became very hard for me and my family, both financially and mentally. But I decided to fight the situation and completed my course."
He took up a job as a school teacher along with his studies and finished his MPhil. He was always inspired by folk art in his village and decided to paint after the accident. "I enrolled myself for a PhD programme but once my paintings started getting recognized, I quit PhD to give art all my time."
Balbir has won 15 all-India awards, including the National Award. "I began working nationally and internationally with private galleries and at the same time took up a job as a lecturer near Muzaffarnagar."
Midway through his journey as an artist, he realized he was gay. "I embraced it, I came out and I was very open about it," he says with pride. In June 2014, he married Michael Giangrasso, a teacher at the American School in Delhi, in New York.
"I had known about him through his work posted on the Internet. I liked it and started following his art career. I wanted to meet him some day and one day did get a chance to meet him at an art fair," says Giangrasso standing beside Balbir and greeting visitors. "Some wonderful accidents got us together and our relationship, once it took off it really sailed. I felt privileged to watch him paint right from when the idea takes shape to when it gets signed in his name."
Balbir's engagement to Michael put him into conflict with his 'khap'. "My family refused to accept me, then there was the khap. Those were dangerous times for me because I had posted pictures of our engagement on Facebook."
He moved to Delhi permanently and hasn't gone back to his family. "My mother refuses to see me. My brother doesn't talk to me. It pains, but yes, you have to choose the kind of life you want to live and if there's love coming from somewhere you need to accept it and not worry about the consequences because love never comes your way again and again," says Balbir.
His work on homosexuality has come under fire many times. His solo exhibition at Lalit Kala Akademi was attacked and his paintings were vandalized. In 2013, his exhibition in Hyderabad was also shut down but this doesn't stop him from painting his canvas with glimpses from society.
"I am not scared of anything. There was a time when I felt disabled but now I don't think I lack anything in life. When you lose something you should come to terms with the fact that it's not coming back and that's how you'll be happy. By accepting reality and embracing it, I am enjoying my life, both my artist life and my life with my husband Michael," he says.
The art exhibition called Beyond Limits, an initiative by Family of Disabled, showcases work by 44 other artists with disabilities and is curated by artists Arpana Caur and Sudip Roy.
Most of the artists hold degrees in art and have the freedom to quote prices for their work. Shweta Singh (24) from Delhi is speech- and hearing-impaired. Her artwork on Christ's crucifixion communicate his suffering for humanity. Arvind Budh Singh (52) suffers from polio, and has brought social themes on canvas in oil and acrylic. As speech- and hearing-impaired Ram Raghubir Mishra puts it "Life might have tried to stop these artists but art helps them breathe".