Kalam Patua is a contemporary exponent of Kalighat painting, a style that developed in the vicinity of the Kali temple in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), in the mid nineteenth century, to illustrate the Hindu pantheon and respond to topical social and political events relevant to a local audience. It declined with the rise of photography and the availability of printing presses.

Here, Patua overlaps religious imagery and scenes from contemporary life, reimagining the gods in the everyday. In Snake charmer the male figure has the blue skin of Krishna or Vishnu, a symbol of divinity that contrasts with the balding, earthly figure. Shesha, king of the snakes and closely allied with Vishnu, is also playfully alluded to – an autobiographical reference, since Patua’s family come from a line of performers who were also skilled snake charmers.