#DORIGHT- Our Folk Art & Artists deserve much more!

Seated cross-legged on the floor, burning the mid-night lamp, I'm engrossed in giving the last finishing touches to my work. As I rise to appreciate it from a distance, my body aches and every bone in my back, neck seems to be thankful that I'm done with this ordeal. The pain is however easily forgotten with the satisfaction of having put away a completed assignment into the portfolio. 

Thus, as a student of art,I'd realised it very early on that Art is not as much fun all the way, as I'd imagined. It is painstaking, requires a lot of patience and does not promise hefty paychecks easily. 

However this understanding had also heightened my respect and appreciation for the folk artists of India.

We sit in luxurious homes on comfortable chairs with our easels prepped with all the tools possible but a traditional rural artist has nothing of the sort. Its just his passion that keeps his brush moving, dedicatedly filling in the minute and intricate details of each fantastic painting. Each painting a finer masterpiece than before!

Giving him company, learning from his experience, drawing from his inspiration, teaching one another are his other family members, the children and the aged, who hone their own art as well with equal competance.This very art for which they all toil, sadly however, does not give them much in return.  They are blessed with an abundance of talent but why does wealth elude them?

Image sourced from http://tourism.oriyaonline.com/places_of_interest.html

Theirs is a saddening sort of tale, the scene at the artists' households of almost all the PattaChitrakaras or artisans in the village of Raghurajpur, in the Puri District of Odisha. 

Patta (cloth)- Chitra (paintings) based on Hindu mythological stories mainly depict tales of Lord Vishnu or Lord JaganNath (an incarnation of Lord Krishna). The style of painting is narrative, painted in bold, clean and sharp angular lines. The background on which the figures are represented is dilineated with profuse flowers and foliage mostly painted in a red colour. Every painting is finished with a highly decorative border or couple of borders in varying thickness.

The flag bearers of  centuries old traditional PattaChitra Kala, manage a living on measly sums of money made from the sales of their paintings. Scores of these exquisite scroll paintings are sold in the cities and this has now become a popular art form here while the artisans that made them continue to live in a very neglected state. Raghurajpur has been declared as a Heritage Crafts Village but how many of the traditional painters or Chitrakaras have directly benefited from this, monetraily? Has it helped better their lifestyle?

www.gangesindia.com

This has been their story until now. If we wish it could be just the first HALF of their story. There are a few like TATA CAPITAL who have realised that it is time to DO RIGHT and has triggered an initiative in the same name. Their vision is truly commendable on how we can ammend all that has been so wrong until now. We really can lend a hand in putting things right for the artists and their hard-working family, by following through on what Tata Capital has proposed. We could all be the catalysts of that change in their story henceforth. The other half of their story could bring them better times, if WE the privileged lot decide to make it so!

Primarily as an artist myself, I can feel one with the PattaChitra artists where the right to appropriate appreciation and recognition is concerned. It is very difficult to imagine being paid in peanuts after hours of back-breaking and squinting at the detailed drawings, when the output is so fantastic. When I look at how other countries from around the world are preserving and promoting their traditional art and artists, I feel ashamed that our treasure trove has not yet been given its due pedestal.

As an Art Curator I have always supported the cause of our tribal and folk artists from the different rural pockets of our culturally rich country. I have supported the tribal artists of Nagaland in the past and am now presently working on an Art initiative for the artists in J&K. The project DO RIGHT has all my support and I will be promoting this cause from my FB page https://www.facebook.com/BINGKArtCurators.

I also intend to strive to bring about a change in the trends of how gallerists operate. IndiChange needs me! That's what I was told and I therefore endeavour to be the lynchpin between the artist and his patron, by giving them a direct connect. I'm a big believer of Karma and I know what goes, comes right around and back!

Vishnusheshamod

I therefore now call upon the generosity of all our Art lovers and Art connoisures to support and encourage this particular form of Folk Art- PattaChitra Kala by purchasing and promoting the works of the artists from Raghurajpur in Orissa.
It is time to #DORIGHT, do our duty, give the artists what they deserve and if possible, more!

Moral booster

PARDISAN an NGO

Life has been kind to me. 

People have always shown love and support to all my endeavours. However not all women in India are as privileged as I am. There are still a large number of women living with very limited resources, a life of suppression and oppression. There are some greatly talented and enterprising women who are being refused the basic rights to self-expression. 

Pardisan is an NGO, that came into inception in 2012 with the sole aim of creating a life and giving livelihood for such women in Jammu and Kashmir. With the primary goal of empowering the local women of J&K, Pardisan is engaging in social enterprises like the sales of arts & handicrafts, utility items made out of recycled & natural materials in order to create remuneration for the underprivileged women.  

Pardisan has also been actively involved in Environment Conservation activities, Recycling of material for conservation of resources, Rehabilitation of destitute and abuse victims, Adult-Education and has taken numerous steps to reach out to the poor and the needy in the states. 

Pardisan has initiated its good work from the District of Udhampur but intends to encompass other surrounding districts and reach out to the innumerable other parts of the States of Jammu & Kashmir wherever help and support may be required. 

With the help of this very noble NGO, I will try to do my moral duty of extending support the women in J & K by giving them hope and reconciliation through their art, itself.

As the curator at BINGK ARTs I will be utilising this platform to raise some funds for the NGO by conducting ART workshops in Kashmiri embroidery and Papier Mache', Online auctions and such related activities. I am hoping that we will be able to contribute to the betterment of the lives of the women in J& K. 

By supporting this noble endeavour by BINGK ART CURATORS, please tell me that we can make this world a better place to live in...please show some ♥ my beautiful people!!! :)

As the first step to show your support please visit their FB page and LIKE Pardisan.

May GOD BLESS your week ahead...