02 January,2022 08:20 AM IST | Mumbai | Sucheta Chakraborty
Broacha and Devi’s work Lockdown Dreams shows Broacha’s urban ladies relaxing in the open surrounded by a forest rendered in Devi’s Mithila style. Broacha did her part first after which the incomplete canvas was sent off to Devi
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An exciting conversation started in the first wave of the pandemic, says Vishpala Hundekari of social enterprise Ekibeki, when some of her contemporary painter friends came forward to donate their work towards relief of artisans and the idea transformed into one where they would work with the artisans. Seven artists would come together with seven artisans to create 10 pieces, the plan, given the project's uniqueness, being to put it online to reach as many people as possible.
A variety of forces are behind this unique artistic project titled Hand in Hand, encouraging collaborations between contemporary artists and Indian artisans practising age-old heritage arts and crafts. These include FDCI Lakmé Fashion Week, Creative Dignity a volunteer-led network working on the relief and rehabilitation within the craft sector, and EkiBeki, a social enterprise with a marketing arm and an NGO that works with dying crafts, attempting to contemporarise them in terms of product and usage so that the artisans can earn a living out of them, given that many are moving out of traditional crafts because of the lack of respect and money. The artworks are being converted into NFTs and hosted on the WazirX NFT Marketplace platform.
Ayesha Broacha
While some were sceptical of the idea of NFTs not working with the ethos of traditional art, says Hundekari, "my philosophy is that unless you change with the times you will not survive. If the younger generation wants to see craft in NFTs, and unless we try and do a few pilots, we will not know what needs to be done in the craft sector to go forward. This I thought was an easier way to connect with the younger generation across the globe." She also wants to explore other performing crafts like kathputli, along with folk music because NFTs have the advantage of adding sound bytes. Moreover, she adds that the blockchain technology ensures that the artisan sees where his or her work is going, and with every resale the artist gets money, besides guaranteeing authenticity. This new aspect has also excited the children of the artisans, the promise of people from all over the world being able to access the work, urging them towards considering joining the family craft. For the traditional artists however, NFTs remain an unknown space, their involvement with the project and its NFT aspect largely dependent on the relationship of trust they have built with an organisation like Ekibeki. "I have been told that while the original will be here, digital versions of the work will be seen and made available for buying everywhere, and people all over the world will know of me and my work, and I will earn royalties," says Gond artist Choti Tekam, who like the other artisans were paid even before the plan of converting their work into NFTs took flight. "This was my first time. It was a good experience and if it benefits us, I will think of doing something similar again in the future."
In this first-of-its-kind venture, contemporary artists like Ayesha Broacha, Deepti Nair, Uttara Joshi and Farhat Dutta have collaborated with Padmashri Dulari Devi (Madhubani), Rupsona Chitrakar (Patachitra), Thilak Reddy (Kalamkari) and Choti Tekam (Gond). Broacha and Devi's work Lockdown Dreams shows Broacha's urban ladies relaxing in the open surrounded by a forest rendered in Devi's Mithila style. "The minute you are shut in, you begin to think of everything one takes for granted which is the outdoors and freedom, so I put my characters outside the limits of the four walls of the house," says Broacha, who did her part first after which the incomplete canvas was sent off to Devi. For Devi, who worked in schools in villages like Kothia, Hatha and Kharakh during the lockdown, both teaching their children and creating art on their walls, the collaboration brought great joy, inspiration and an opportunity to learn of another artist's style - the two sets of ideas, colours and elements just falling into place. "Ayesha's strength lies in her Madamjis," says Hundekari who helped to facilitate many of the pairings between the artists and artisans. "She doesn't glamorise them, choosing to depict women with cellulite on their thighs wearing short dresses. Her works are authentic and represent day-to-day life. On the other hand, Devi's work is very intricate. So, there was a contrast." Moreover, she points out that Madhubani as a medium was traditionally used by painters to narrate day-to-day incidents to the kings. So the idea of three urban women relaxing in the middle of a jungle unaware of the beauty that surrounds them was also pointing to our own daily reality and suited the Madhubani form well.
Broacha says that while a project like this offers enormous scope to combine ideas, techniques and talent and produce attractive art, she was also apprehensive because traditional artists are very talented in their fine detailed work, far more than a lot of urban artists who tend to be bolder in their work and more abstract and graphic. "I was concerned that what I did would fall short by a fair margin of what they did on the same canvas." At the same time, she points out that while she has been a fan of folk artists for a long time, she has also realised that they tend to get repetitive in the kind of work that they produce. "They tend to put out work that has sold or is popular and keep doing the same kind of work. You see the same themes, colours and that gets old. For the amount of labour that is put into a piece of work, people will just walk past it without even looking [in an exhibition]. They need a bit of push to understand what the market is looking for in terms of becoming a little more contemporary. I think working with people like us gives them that perspective and people like me can learn a lot from their techniques and skill. It's a win-win if you can put it together."
Critic and curator Uma Nair expresses concerns about the pricing of art and the proportions in the share of profits, when indigenous artists are involved with contemporary artists, the former often being exploited and paid insufficiently for their contributions.
Vishakha Singh, VP, WazirX NFT Marketplace on the other hand speaks of how NFTs have revolutionised consumption and investment in art, making it accessible to the common man and helping in increasing awareness of indigenous artwork within Gen Alpha and GenZ who comprise majority of the NFT/Crypto and blockchain community.
