Calcutta: Calcuttans will get a glimpse into the works of avant garde Italian artist Pietro Ruffo this November.

The exhibition at Indian Museum will expose art lovers to a very 21st century global concern, that of migration.

Ruffo's drawings and sculptures will be on display for a month from November 15.

"We are glad to bring Pietro Ruffo for the art connoisseur of Calcutta as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of bilateral relations between India and Italy. It is of significance that we are bringing one of Italy's most celebrated contemporary artist-sculptor Ruffo's works on a subject like migration, which is the main point of talk in Europe and elsewhere," Italian consul general Damiano Francovigh said.

The museum recently hosted an exhibition of another Italian master, Raphael.

Ruffo's works concentrate on political ideas of freedom and liberty and explores a wide range of social, moral and political issues. His works reflect his concerns and thoughts on contemporary global concerns.

Born in Rome in 1978, Ruffo continues to live and work there after having earned his degree in architecture from the University of Rome. He went to Columbia University on a research fellowship in 2010.

"Working with media, including drawing, watercolour and sculpture, he creates intricate and meticulously-detailed objects which demand an intense manual working process," according to the artist's official website.

Ruffo's series on migration, engravings or blue and white Chinese ceramics depict moving populations. Only his engravings will be shown at the Indian Museum.

Figures fly like birds from one continent to another in his works, each of which (ink and cut-out on paper) depicts the globe in a particular shape on a two-dimensional surface.

"Whether for reasons of climate, political tensions or the search for better economic or religious conditions, it reflects 'an increasingly interconnected humanity' which overcomes geographical and cultural boundaries," states Ruffo's website on his works on migration.

Talking about the theme of migration in the Indian Museum collection, director Rajesh Purohit said: "Many kinds of migration happened, migration in art, in culture, religion, tools, in vegetable, fruits. In art, we find migration in Jehangir's paintings. There are a lot of cathedrals, churches, ecclesiastical objects of Europe in these miniature paintings. This was because several European travellers came to India during his time."

Achaealuian tools, pre-historic tools from the Olduvai Gorge, were found in Atrampakkam in Tamil Nadu by Bruce Foote, who authored the tools collection at the museum. Similar tools were reported from various parts of the world, including India, Europe and other areas.

"Whether this was because of migration or the result of the same human development everywhere, it is not known. Things might have evolved parallelly," said Purohit, who was instrumental in bringing Ruffo and his migration series to the museum.