So often while on our shopping spree, we are pulled towards various art and craft products on display. They look so enchanting that we marvel at them. But there is an underlying journey behind these craft pieces, which is what Jaya Jaitly envisaged to explore.
The founder and President of Dastkari Haat Samiti, Jaitly is now all set to present Akshara: Crafting Indian Scripts, an exhibition featuring 58 producer-groups, 13 languages and scripts and 15 craft, textile and art forms, covering 16 states of India.
Through Akshara, the Dastkari Haat Samiti aims to bring together craftsmanship and calligraphy [the art of beautifying script] to the fore. It proposes to highlight the importance of saaksharta throughout India by giving it a new dimension through skills practised by craftspeople.
‘There are three major objectives behind this project, firstly to make our craftsmen, who are mostly illiterate, to be able to read and write. Secondly, I wish to honour and preserve the legacy of our regional languages and scripts. Thirdly, the design and calligraphy art needs to be propogated and made more popular,’ said Jaya.
Art forms that were developed and will be on display consists of the following-Kani sozni embroidery from Jammu & Kashmir, Madhubani from Bihar, Kavad from Rajasthan, Sanjhi from Uttar Pradesh, leather paintings from Andhra Pradesh, clay work from Tamil Nadu, silver work from Rajasthan, wood and lacquer work from Karnataka, stone carving from Odissa, shibori from Delhi, zari embroidery and wood block carving from Delhi, papier mache art from Jammu & Kashmir and Patachitra paintings from West Bengal.
Apart from a book launch Crafting Indian Scripts to highlight the use of Indian scripts on crafts, there will be a screening of a film on combining choreography and calligraphy with dancers Navtej Johar and Justin McCarthy. ‘It is a jugalbandi between Bharatanatyam dancers and a calligrapher,’ said Jaya. ‘All the products represent vernacular calligraphy into crafts,’ she added.
Go take a look.