Visiting Maihar in Madhya Pradesh to participate in the fourth-anniversary celebrations of Art Ichol brought alive to me many issues surrounding art, ownership and its relationship with the local community.
At Art Ichol, founder-curator Ambica Sabherwal Beri has created a veritable oasis for contemporary art expression that attempts to transcend the usual silos of urbanity when it comes to contemporary art. Art Ichol has been curated as a platform for creating, sharing and promoting the creative arts.
It has been envisaged as a commune where resident artists, craft enthusiasts and talented artisans can collaborate to explore creative concepts under open skies, even while relishing the subtle symphonies of changing nature around them. The name is inspired by the neighbouring village of Ichol, which the platform engages with facilitating skill development and community building.
A recent bamboo workshop led by Mumbai-based architect Neelam Manjunath taught youth from the Basaud community who came from the close-by villages of Bhandanpur, Ichol and Sunohra. Ichol area, to acquire new skills in bamboo bending and tying, and the resultant architectural structure created in the workshop was a veritable sight for the gods.
The youth can now go on to earn a better living with their newly acquired skill. And how wow is that! At the ceramics workshop, artists Jayasri Burman and Maya Burman were using their brush strokes to embellish platters and bowls. Photographer Amitabh Bhattacharya was finding amazing light to bring alive his portraits and vignettes. Gallery owners Shobha Bhatia (Gallerie Ganesha) and Sunaina Anand (Art Alive) were engaging with understanding the creative process. It was this amazing energy of partaking of the other that Art Ichol curated effortlessly.
To mark the fourth anniversary, the platform had commissioned a 30-foot sculpture by the renowned artist Paresh Maity. Titled “Maihar”, the sculpture was an artistic tribute to this punya bhumi of Ma Sharada shakti peeth and the karma bhumi of Ustad Allauddin Khan, the legendary music maestro who founded the Maihar gharana of Hindustani classical music.
Maity’s sculpture, rendered in painted MS steel and brass, welds a creative link between the spiritual and temporal heritage of Maihar. Merging motifs of musical instruments with those resonating a Devi Temple, the sculpture is both imposing and endearing.Through this latest work, Maity creates a fascinating link
between the past and the future, which we can relish in the present.But what was noteworthy was the presence of 400 local villagers who came to participate in the sculpture’s inauguration. Deeply moved and inspired by it, they vied to be photographed against the sculpture.
The venue became a popular selfie spot. Over 400 urban and local guests attended my dance performance. Performing under the open skies and with minimal technical support, the roots of why I chose dance as my means of artistic expression became evident to me again.
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