Born in 1987 in Siwan, Bihar, Upendra Ram is a Nagpur-based ceramicist who earned his MFA in Pottery & Ceramics from Banaras Hindu University in 2013. Using ceramics as a conceptual medium, he crafts narratives that reflect on human existence. Currently the resident ceramicist at Studio Pottery, Nagpur, his work engages with the histories of clay, merging tradition with contemporary discourse. His refined ceramic renderings nod to communities that have long used craft as a form of dissent. He questions the hierarchy between ceramics and everyday fired clay, highlighting social structures embedded in material culture. In parts of North India, terracotta chai cups are discarded after a single use—a subtle but powerful marker of caste untouchability. Through his practice, Upendra challenges these notions, transforming clay into a vessel for layered meaning