C.K. Rajan was born in Kerala in 1960 and now lives in Hyderabad. Although his work is politically engaged, he avoids being overly direct. Instead, as is the case with Twilight Zone (2010), he uses humour, satire, and elements of surrealism to express his perspective on India’s changing economic and social landscape.

The artist first trained as a painter at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, but later moved away from painting to focus on collage and sculpture. In 1985, Rajan became one of the youngest members of the Radical Painters and Sculptors Association (also known as the Kerala Radical Group). This group, formed in the 1980s at Baroda, challenged both the traditions of the Indian art world and the wider political system. After the group dissolved in 1989, Rajan continued to explore political and social issues in his own work.

Rajan's work has been exhibited in India and internationally, including documenta 12 in Kassel in 2007. Works from his 1990s collage series Mild Terrors can be found in the collections of Tate Modern and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.