While keeping an eye on the scenic beauty that surrounds you while driving on a highway, truck art is also something to look out for. Even if not familiar with the term, truck art is something you would commonly see on Indian roadways. Trucks in India are a kaleidoscope of colours, slogans and intricately painted symbols that are as much about bling. Every time I see "Horn Ok Please" written on a truck, it’s always in a unique font, a font that I didn't know existed!

Truck art is symbolism that continues on the richly painted exterior, with images of gods and goddesses, Bollywood stars and political logos that say much about the person behind the wheel.

These vibrantly decorated trucks were restricted only to India until Assam-born artist Lata Upadhyaya decided to take it to England.

_{Transit - Identity of a White Van @ Lata Upadhyaya}

Inspired by the truck art of India, Lata Upadhyaya started working on her white van a few months ago. The mix of Indian art forms, Chinese motifs and European designs took the van to Firstsite, a leading contemporary art gallery and part of the Tate Plus network of galleries near London.

The decorated van is now travelling across England, and is scheduled to move from Harlow to Birmingham and Nottingham. Such has been the response to ‘Transit: The Identity of a White Van’ that Upadhyaya’s exhibition calendar is booked for two years.

Arts Council England, which has supported Upadhyaya in developing her work over the last five years, has commissioned the work.

“I have used my white van, a very common goods transporter in these parts, to reflect the role and contribution that migrants have made to the British society,” informed Upadhyaya, 46, to Rahul Karmakar from London.

Daughter of Nandlal Upadhyaya - a pioneer of Assam’s dairy cooperative movement, Upadhyaya is from Jagiroad, about 60 km east of Guwahati.

_{Transit Lata Upadhyaya}

“My work reflects upon my own life and experience of migrating from the East to the West. Transit brings together my origins in India and my life in Britain; the white van represented a blank canvas, a British symbol as well as a lack of identity. I wanted the white van to take on a new British identity, one that represents all of the people that live here, all the different communities and celebrates what being British and living in Britain means,” she said.

The Hindu reported Firstsite director Sally Shaw saying that, “Upadhyaya’s installation builds upon the gallery’s ongoing examination of identity”. In decorating the ubiquitous white transit van in the manner of Indian truck art, while also mixing in various other national symbols, such as the Chinese dragon, “Lata has metamorphosed a functional vehicle into an artwork that reflects the cultural vibrancy of contemporary Britain,” she said.