A walk around the different stalls on display at the ongoing Hast Karigar Society’s exhibition can leave one awestruck. The range of art and crafts from the corners of the country gives insight on the skill and legacy of the crafts, something which might be alien for the city bred. However, among them, there are some familiar names like pattachitra, ikat and ajrakh that have caught the city’s fancy for many years now.
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o give buyers a glimpse to the long procedure behind the creation of each craft, the exhibition conducts demonstrations.
For pattachitra national awardee Akshaya Kumar Barik, it is a busy schedule. As he sits down to give a live demonstration of the art to small but diverse audiences from various age groups, he is also attending customers at his stall at the Lalit Kala Akademi. He meticulously draws out images on a sheet of paper, and shows how to fill the drawings with water colours, as a curious 8-year-old participant watches him. His hand moves around the paper with effortless pace and unbridled energy. Stopping briefly in the middle of his demonstration, he is excited to share the history of the art and his involvement.
“We are a family of artists from Puri district, the abode of Jagannathji. After training at the Chitrakala Parishad in Bengaluru, I got into my family vocation of making pattachitra, an art form which dates back to over 1,000 years,” says Akshaya Kumar.
Pattachitra (patta — canvas and chitra — pictures) finds it origins in and around the temple of Jagannath, and presents the life of Lord Krishna and the stories of the Vaishnava sect with panels of detailed works done on cloth. The colours are organic, with mostly soot used for black, along with stones of different colours.
Akshaya, who hails from Raghurajpur village, considered the hub for the work and skilled artists, says while the time and energy spent was enormous, the end result was worth the effort. “The smallest work to the largest versions require the same dedication,” he adds.
But are the returns high? He smiles and adds, “People who understand them, buy them, and don’t crib about the cost. Replicas cannot recreate the same magic.” Having travelled the world and is all set to visit Dubai later this year.
A few stalls away, we meet ajrakh expert Vasif, who belongs to a family of ajrakh block printers from Ajrakhpur in Bhuj. A man of few words, he gives up his reticence after a barrage of questions and shares a few insights into the block printing method. Ajrakh is derived from the phrase aaj ke liye rakh (keep it aside for today), symbolising the long process it involves, and the art continues to thrive in Sindh, Bhuj and Rajasthan.
Vasif says, “It involves many days of work. From the initial process of washing the fabrics and making prints on them to using organic colours, all steps are lengthy. You cannot skip even a single step. Indigo plays an important role in the making of block prints that involve close to 14 stages.” He picked up the art from his father, the master craftsman Khatri Abdul Rahim Anwar. But he says ajrakh is not taught, but is imbibed in them from a young age. His stall has many sarees, dupattas and bedsheets on display. “Initially ajrakh prints were used only for sarongs and pagadis. Today, in a bid to keep the craft alive, block printers make a variety of women’s wear,” he says.