BHUBANESWAR : Ever tried drawing up an abstract or a visual story with Odia alphabets as a theme? Head to an Instagram handle ‘63daysofodiatype’ of Toronto-based artist and graphic designer Azkia Aarif who has launched an interesting campaign to popularise Odia alphabets and numbers through illustrations and designs.
The 29-year-old Bhubaneswar-born artist’s campaign on Instagram #63daysofodiatype allows designers, illustrators, graphic artists, caligraphers and the common public to create designs of Odia alphabets and numbers every day for 63 days by expanding the borders of typography and interpreting them in unique styles. “63 Days of Odia Type is a project that invites all to express their mood of interpretation of the Odia letters and numbers. 63 because there are 53 Odia alphabets and 10 numbers, one alphabet or number is promoted each day”, says Azkia, an alumnus of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) at Kannur. And one does not have to be an expert artist to be a part of the campaign.
“It is a way to explore the creative boundaries of lettering where the artists are given prompts to design a letter or number each day for 63 consecutive days. It is also a way to show an artist’s perspective of the same symbol in various ways”, she says. The primary aim of the campaign, she says, is to make learning Odia interesting for youngsters who are shying away from the language today.
While the campaign began on April 1 on the occasion of Utkal Divas, there are over 160 people who have joined it so far. Around 20 artists have taken up the challenge of submitting the artwork every single day and these artists are not just from Odisha but also from Pune, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Toronto and Singapore, she says.
Azkia explains that each day is assigned to a particular prompt and the artists design or letter the prompts. All the participants share their artwork via Instagram by uploading their interpretations while using the project’s hashtag #63daysofodiatype and the artwork is showcased on the Instagram handle @63daysofodiatype. “Drawing for 63 days in a row is a challenge in itself, so once this edition is over, all the series of artworks will be showcased in the project account all round the year to help promote the artists involved”, she says.
And what interests her about Odia? Its written form, she answers, adding that Odia alphabets stand out because of their curved appearance. “This was the result of the practice of writing on palm leaves which have a tendency to tear if one uses way too many straight lines”, she says. The artist also educates people about interesting aspects of Odia script and numerals through the Instagram page. Not many youngsters know that there are nine siblings of the widely used style of Odia that have acquired their names as per their areas of use.
For instance, Midnapori Odia in Midnapore and the list goes on similar line as, Singhbhumi, Baleswari, Ganjami (spoken in Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal and Srikakulam in AP), Sambalpuri, Desiya, Bhatri, Halbi and Phulbani,” she says. “Likewise, Odia grammar is very simple with no gender in verbs or pronouns and it’s also interesting to know that essays developed very late and poetry came first in Odia language”, she adds. After the 63-day campaign, Azkia plans to shift focus on different dialects of Odia and an easy range of words as prompts for the artists.