about the gallery

They’re symbols of trust, tokens of love and puzzles that can take half a day to solve. One is shaped like a map of undivided India, the others resemble fish, monkeys, pistols. A mix of originals and replicas, about 3,500 locks fill up the loft of the Patel family’s single-storey home in Hamirpura, a village about two hours from Ahmedabad, in the Kheda district of Gujarat. Traditionally farmers, they’ve been collecting metal and wooden locks for four generations, and over a century.