Art has always served as a medium to express one’s tradition, culture and community spirit. Art knows no bound, time and lifestyle and there is a strong need to bring out themes that focus on similar content that represents the tradition in different art forms, said Aruna Sundarajan, IAS, Secretary Ministry of Steel at the inaugural ceremony of the ‘Regional Tribal Folk and Traditional Painting Camp’ on Friday.
After the visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru Kala Kendra, the art and cultural hub patronized by MECON where 15 artists from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have been busy painting the walls here for the past two days portraying the vanishing form of folk art, Sundarajan had only words of encouragement for the tribal artists.
Ambika Soni, a national awardee from Madhubani, Bihar had her eye focused on the intricate drawing that she was busy giving finishing touches. “My relationship with painting started at an early age of five. I have grown up learning the Mithila painting, more commonly known as the Madhubani painting, now from my grandmother and mother. The paper is first coated with cow dung and left to dry and then, we begin the painting with bamboo stick or pen, sometimes. I received the Raj Purashkar in 1995 and then went on to receive the national award in 2012,” said the 45-year-old woman.
Soni sells her work for nothing less than Rs12,000 and showcases an exceptional intricate work worth Rs2,00,000. Shiv Kumar Paswan, another folk painter from Jutwarpur village, Madhubani in Bihar who has been struck by polio seems to have an indepth knowledge of the Indian mythology. Paswan shyly passes all the due credits to his grandmother late Chano Devi, who was the recipient of the national award for her contribution in introducing the Godhna-harijan painting form and working hard to preserve it.
Another indigenous painting of Eastern India is the Paitkar painting that reflects many realities of day-to-day human life, life in the villages and forests, wild animals, legends and mythologies of the society. A tribal artist from Jorakath, Chadhi in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand was busy balancing herself on an unstable-looking chair while she painted a representation of three women carrying earthen pots of water while a man sits casually under a tree. Sajwa Devi, a 45-year-old woman painter accompanied by her 14-year-old son explains the story in the picture. “The man is the head of the family and the women are his wives who are busy in their daily chores of the household. This is a very regular affair in the villages and such paintings are quite commonly seen on the walls of our village,” said Sajwa.
Meanwhile, Haren Thakur, Art Consultant at MECON and a renowned painter further explained the folk art that has long been used in story telling depicting the socio-religious customs of the tribal communities in the eastern part of the country. “It is quite clear from the painting that how male-dominated is this particular community and our society. Paitkar painting is considered one of the popular craft of Jharkhand state and also the oldest tribal painting in India. We are trying to organise such exhibitions in order to preserve the folk art and culture,” said Thakur.