‘Life before Ashes’ is a poignant, yet hard-hitting, message by MOHAN Foundation (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) to spread a very simple message - ‘What has now become ashes, could have been another person’s heart or kidney, if only the organs were donated.’ The Foundation has created a set of art installations of human organs to highlight this urgency and make the public think about organ donation.

The human organ installations are made from a mix of real human ashes and mud from graves. This idea stems from the insight that people are ready to allow their organs to be burnt and wasted, but they aren’t willing to let their organs give a new life to someone. The installations are meant to make people think about the need of organ donation while also urging them to sign up and become organ donors.

The campaign tries to expand the notion of organ transplant by emphasizing on the merits of organ donation, highlighting the declining number of registrations and bringing to focus the social stigma attached to organ donation in India.

The art collection featuring human heart, liver, kidney and eyeball went on display at Infinity Mall, (Malad), Apollo Hospital (Navi Mumbai) and Global Hospital (Parel). MOHAN Foundation plans to take the installations to more malls, hospitals and public places across Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai as well as hospitals in the UK.