Where paintings speak: West Bengal’s pattachitra artists battle odds to keep tradition alive

Kolkata: Naya, a remote village in West Bengal’s West Medinipur district, is nothing short of a living art gallery where the walls, the clothes, and sundry items of daily use are a showcase of the traditional art form of ‘pattachitra’, created by its ‘Chitrakaar’ residents. Granted a Geographical Identification (GI) tag in 2018 and recognised globally for its themes and narratives, and bold natural colours derived from fruits, flowers, and minerals, the pattachitra continues to thrive in the small village of 136 families despite facing challenges of funding, technology, and support. Pattachitra is unique in its oral-visual style of narration where the artists, known as ‘potua’, sing as they unroll their painted stories. What was once painted on leaves has now evolved to adorn clothes, textiles, mugs, wall hangings and daily-use items, keeping the art relevant and alive.

The artists, who range across gender and age, take pride in the fact that their art has over the years travelled overseas and is celebrated for its uniqueness. “I have been to Germany to conduct workshops,” Soniya Chitrakaar told media reporters, her eyes sparkling with a sense of pride for the efforts she and her family put in to preserve the art form. Soniya’s parents and husband are not the only ones who paint, her 10-year-old daughter, Priyanka Chitrakaar, is an equal stakeholder. While Soniya’s husband, earlier a carpenter, learned the craft and is now a part of the centuries-old tradition, she wants their daughter to “get a good education while continuing to be involved in the art work”. They are a community where the women lead from the front. Having been to various art fairs in Delhi and abroad Soniya said, “There is no gender discrimination here. The women potuas too are independent enough to sustain themselves and their families.” Her mother Joba Chitrakaar added, “We have even learned to travel on our own.”

For Bahadur Chitrakaar, a potua artist who has travelled to Russia, pattachitra is a medium of communication which he and his fellow villagers are trying to sustain and revive. The artist was invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to showcase his craft during the 2022 Republic Day parade in Delhi. He had earlier made a 120 ft pattachitra on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s life, from his birth till independence. Like Bahadur, his daughter went to Denmark and son-in-law to London to conduct workshops and sell their products. PM Modi’s recent gift of a handmade pattachitra painting to Croatian President Zoran Milanović has further brought the art form into international limelight. Pattachitra is increasingly being used for a variety of purposes, including in Durga Puja pandals, election campaigns, promotion of state government schemes, and as part of social awareness campaigns. Earlier, the song related to a pattachitra - a potua gan - would be about Hindu mythological tales amd folktales. Now, narratives to create awareness about the coronavirus, dengue, and global warming have become a part of the tradition. Despite its global reach and popularity in India, the artists look at challenges in the form of new technologies and monetary support. “I only know how to use the phone for calls. I am not really aware about what is happening on social media or how to use the internet. Having that knowledge would have helped us to understand the opinion of people, what is relevant and also the market to sell our products,” he said.

Despite having come a long way, technology is a challenge for a majority of artists in the village. Soniya along with her mother shared concerns about the lack of basic training in using the internet. “We don’t quite understand how to use the internet because of which several people buy our works at a lower rate and later sell them at higher prices, including on e-commerce platforms, thereby earning huge profits,” Soniya said. She added that to sustain ourselves "we should be able to use technology, especially social media and e-commerce so that we can sell our products online on our own”. The artists also added that relying on middlemen to sell their products also hurts the prospects of running a successful business model that could also support the art form. “NGOs and Self Help Groups give us opportunities to travel, stay, display and sell our products at trade fairs or festivals. But it is very expensive to set up shops in cities like Delhi. Therefore selling our works directly to the customers is still a challenge,” Soniya said.