A two-day Rock Art festival will be organised at State Museum by Alliance Francaise de Bhopal in collaboration with the Directorate of Archaeology, Archives and Museums.
The festival would begin on Wednesday with the screening of the film ‘Cave Of Forgotten Dreams’ followed with a discussion with eminent pre-historian Jean Clottes, who appears as the protagonist of the film. On the second day of the fest ‘Images of Power’, an exhibition by Meenakshi Pathak would be displayed and would conclude with the conference with Clottes and Pathak on ‘Rock Art in the World’.
While talking to the media persons here on Tuesday, Jean Clottes and Meenakshi Pathak informed about the rock art and untold facts of the art. Jean Clottes said, “Rock Art is a very interesting topic to be studied on. It unfolds various facets of past as well as give us something to preserve for present and future.”
Editor of the International Newsletter on Rock Art (INORA) and the Director of collection (Arts Rupestres) in Paris, Jean Clottes, PhD in Prehistory, is also an international expert for rock art with ICOMOS and UNESCO. The American Rock Art Research Association awarded him their lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. India is a part of his virtual tour to the most famous Rock Art sites of the World.
Moreover, Meenakshi Pathak did her research work on the ‘Prehistoric Rock Paintings of the Pachmarhi Hills in Central India’ during which she discovered and explored 25 painted rock shelters. For this she was awarded the Junior Research Fellowship in 1987.
Notably, Clottes and Pathak have worked on several papers and books together. One of which is a book on ‘The Images of God’ Rock art and Tribal art of Central India printing in French in Paris, France in 2013. The fest would be like an extravagance for the Bhopalites and the art lovers of the city. Moreover, this fest would be an informational event for the archeologists as well.