{"person":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"1498"},"lastName":{"label":"Last Name","value":"Chand"},"endDate":{"label":"Death Date","value":"2015"},"displayName":{"label":"Name","value":"Nek Chand"},"objects":{"label":"Objects","value":[{"objectTitle":"Mithuna Plaque","objectNumber":"2001.13.4","objectID":"2957"},{"objectTitle":"Female Figure Wearing Ghangra","objectNumber":"2001.13.2","objectID":"2955"},{"objectTitle":"Bangle Lady at Well","objectNumber":"2004.25.2","objectID":"3294"},{"objectTitle":"Dupatta Mithuna Plaque","objectNumber":"2001.13.5","objectID":"2958"},{"objectTitle":"Lady at Well","objectNumber":"2004.25.7","objectID":"3305"},{"objectTitle":"Bangle Lady at Well","objectNumber":"2004.25.9","objectID":"3287"},{"objectTitle":"Lady at Well","objectNumber":"2004.25.8","objectID":"3303"},{"objectTitle":"Bangle Lady at Well","objectNumber":"2004.25.11","objectID":"3288"},{"objectTitle":"Bangle Lady at Well","objectNumber":"2004.25.10","objectID":"3286"},{"objectTitle":"Little Boy","objectNumber":"2004.25.13","objectID":"3311"},{"objectTitle":"Boy with Basket","objectNumber":"2004.25.12","objectID":"3301"},{"objectTitle":"Little Boy","objectNumber":"2004.25.14","objectID":"3312"},{"objectTitle":"Female Figure Wearing Ghangra","objectNumber":"2001.13.2","objectID":"2955"},{"objectTitle":"Female Figure Wearing Sari","objectNumber":"2001.13.1","objectID":"2954"},{"objectTitle":"Untitled","objectNumber":"2022.6.4","objectID":"8332"},{"objectTitle":"Mithuna Plaque","objectNumber":"2001.13.4","objectID":"2957"},{"objectTitle":"Male Figure Wearing Dhoti","objectNumber":"2001.13.3","objectID":"2956"},{"objectTitle":"Dupatta Mithuna Plaque","objectNumber":"2001.13.5","objectID":"2958"},{"objectTitle":"Man with Basket","objectNumber":"2004.25.15","objectID":"3308"},{"objectTitle":"Lady at Well","objectNumber":"2004.25.1","objectID":"3304"},{"objectTitle":"Sentinel","objectNumber":"2004.25.5","objectID":"3280"},{"objectTitle":"Bangle Man","objectNumber":"2004.25.16","objectID":"3296"},{"objectTitle":"Guard with Hat","objectNumber":"2004.25.17","objectID":"3284"},{"objectTitle":"Monkey","objectNumber":"2004.25.19","objectID":"3298"},{"objectTitle":"Bird","objectNumber":"2004.25.21","objectID":"3299"},{"objectTitle":"Man with Basket","objectNumber":"2004.25.20","objectID":"3309"},{"objectTitle":"Guard","objectNumber":"2004.25.28","objectID":"3313"},{"objectTitle":"Man with Basket","objectNumber":"2004.25.22","objectID":"3307"},{"objectTitle":"Lady at Well","objectNumber":"2004.25.3","objectID":"3302"},{"objectTitle":"Lady with Dress","objectNumber":"2004.25.29","objectID":"3300"},{"objectTitle":"Bangle Man","objectNumber":"2004.25.23","objectID":"3295"},{"objectTitle":"Bangle Man","objectNumber":"2004.25.25","objectID":"3297"},{"objectTitle":"LIttle Boy","objectNumber":"2004.25.24","objectID":"3310"},{"objectTitle":"Duck","objectNumber":"2004.25.27","objectID":"3293"},{"objectTitle":"Monkey","objectNumber":"2004.25.18","objectID":"3314"},{"objectTitle":"Male Figure Wearing Dhoti","objectNumber":"2001.13.3","objectID":"2956"},{"objectTitle":"Red Bangle Man","objectNumber":"2004.25.26","objectID":"3292"},{"objectTitle":"Sentinel","objectNumber":"2004.25.4","objectID":"3283"},{"objectTitle":"Beaded Fence","objectNumber":"2004.25.30","objectID":"2430"},{"objectTitle":"Female Figure Wearing Sari","objectNumber":"2001.13.1","objectID":"2954"},{"objectTitle":"Bangle Lady at Well","objectNumber":"2004.25.6","objectID":"3285"}]},"geographyDied":{"label":"Died","value":["Chandīgarh","Berian Kala"]},"biography":{"label":"Biography","value":"As Chandīgarh, a city in northern India, was being redeveloped under the aggressively modernist plans of Swiss architect Le Corbusier in the mid-twentieth century, Nek Chand collected cast-off construction materials and the remains of the old villages being destroyed to make way for urbanization. He turned what he found into a fantastic rock garden, explaining in an interview, \u201cI saw beauty and art in what people said was junk.\u201d Located on the outskirts of Chandīgarh, the landscape that Chand made is full of thousands of cement sculptures, their vibrant clothing formed from glass and ceramic shards. Some have baskets on their heads; others dance or play instruments. They represent the range of Indian rural life, from its playing children to its police officers. Cement monkeys, oxen, and birds adorn the garden\u2019s slopes, which visitors navigate through passageways that wind alongside waterfalls, streams, and lush plantings.Chand started the garden in secret in 1958. Born in 1924 in a Punjabi village in today\u2019s Pakistan, Nek Chand Saini, better known as Nek Chand, fled with his family to the Indian side of the border during the 1947 Partition. He went on to work in supervising road construction in Chandīgarh, getting a close look at the rapid changes happening in the city and the places that were still overlooked. He chose one of the overgrown spaces on the city\u2019s northern edge, reimagining it by night as \u201ca kingdom of gods and goddesses.\u201d As he once stated, \u201cWhat they threw away, I used.\u201d This included broken bikes, which were used as armatures for the sculptures made by layering cement and salvaged materials like bottle caps and fluorescent-light tubes. He also created hundreds of rag dolls from salvaged cloth with his same ingenuity for transforming waste into something beautiful.The garden was discovered during urban expansion in 1973. Not only did the authorities encourage Chand to continue but he was given a team to help him increase the garden\u2019s scale, and it opened to the public in 1976 with the Indian government\u2019s support. It later endured through proposed roads and vandalism, and the Nek Chand Foundation was organized to steward its maintenance. Chand died in 2015, with what is now known as the Rock Garden in Chandīgarh established as a major tourist site in India; visitors still come each day in multitudes to explore what he created.Allison C. Meier, 2025Text written as part of \u201cRethinking Biography,\u201d an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)."},"geographyActive":{"label":"Active","value":["Chandīgarh","Berian Kala"]},"geographyBorn":{"label":"Born","value":["Chandīgarh","Berian Kala"]},"beginDate":{"label":"Birth Date","value":"1924"},"firstName":{"label":"First Name","value":"Nek"},"primaryMedia":{"value":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/2941/full"},"names":{"label":"Names","value":["Nek Chand","Nek Chand Saini"]},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"(1924\u20132015)"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"151258"}}]}