Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya organised another chapter of its popular series, Curatorial Talk, on Wednesday, where Conservation Associate of Manav Sangrahalaya, Shubhendra Kumar Singh spoke on ‘Conservation of Ethnographic Objects: The Techniques and Ethics’. The curatorial talk was chaired by Director of IGRMS Prof Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri.
Keynote speaker of the Curatorial Talk, Singh said that one of the most important disciplines to deal with the material culture and other tangible forms of cultural heritage is Conservation. The main principle of Conservation is to extend the life of material culture.
Different parameters play different roles in decay of material culture and thus Conservation experts face challenges in exploring the possible solutions by scientific means. Apart from the archaeological treasures, the ethnographic objects having complex in nature are very much susceptible towards environmental factor. The present talk highlights some of the important aspects of conservation; techniques and ethics with reference to the ethnographic collections of the Sangrahalaya.
Tribal are near to nature, whatever raw material was easily available was used for making objects of day to day utility, cultural ceremonies and worship. Tribal objects apart from their prestigious ornaments and heirloom objects; they are largely organic in nature and very much prone to decay.
Organic parts decay due to various biological factors, become dirty, breakable and fragile. Inorganic parts of metals corrode, stones get dirty or get detached and painted parts show flaking. Different materials react differently to forces of decay and show changes accordingly.