Taxi Driver Curry

This is an extremely limited edition—just fifty copies printed, including five deluxe copies already sold on the fine art market—of  a striking conversation, between a cab driver and his fare, about the everyday practice of making curry. The beautiful woodcut illustrations are inspired by traditional designs which are common in India and South Asia

The Conversation
There are many different ways to cook curry. This transcript of artist David Esslemont’s conversation with a taxi driver describes just one approach and was recorded at 4.30 a.m. while travelling between terminals at London’s Heathrow airport.

It is a conversation Esslemont has struck up with many people over the years, but this Indian-born driver was especially pleased to share his version, which is unusual in several ways.

Edition Details
Taxi Driver Curry is illustrated with ten original woodcuts based on kolam, traditional designs found in India and elsewhere in South Asia that are created to bring prosperity and ward off evil as well as welcome guests into a home.

Images hand printed from the original wood-blocks; the text printed from polymer plates, 175 x 254 mm ( 7 x 10 ins) landscape, 24pp, 10 woodcuts.

Forty-five copies are bound with cloth-covered boards.

Five deluxe copies bound in white alum-tawed goatskin have sold out.