REJUVENATING FOLK PAINTINGS ON TEXTILE PRODUCTS: A REVIEW by Nikita Sachwani

REJUVENATING FOLK PAINTINGS ON TEXTILE PRODUCTS: A REVIEW

NIKITA SACHWANI

Guest Faculty, Department of Garment Production and Export Management, Government Arts Girls College, Kota

Abstract

India is a diverse country with a vast range of art forms and cultures which serve as a unique identification for the area of their origin. These together contribute to the rich heritage of this country. This study titled “Rejuvenating Folk Paintings on Textile Products: A Review” is an attempt to bring together various efforts made by entrepreneurs, researchers, academic institutes, designers, organizations and craftsmen of this country to bring back Indian folk painting to life through their application on textiles/ textile products. Work done during the last five years (2016-2020) has been reviewed and discussed. The aim of this study is to help and provide necessary inputs related to past work done in this field. This is expected to be beneficial for textile revivalists, designers, students and all those who are working or are willing to work for the revival of folk paintings of India by applying them on different media and product diversification. Keywords: Heritage, rejuvenating, craftsmen, product diversification, designers, entrepreneurs.

Introduction

India is a land of diversity, a fact that is blatantly visible in people, culture, and climate of this nation. “This country has hundreds of ethnic groups scattered from north to south and east to west, each with its own art form representing its taste, needs, aspirations, aims, joys, sorrows and struggles”. “With regional peculiarities, nature around and a different pattern of daytoday life apart, their art reveals each group’s ethnic distinction and creative talent” [1]. Along with adding richness to heritage of India, these art forms have fascinated people all over the world.

Warli Paintings of Maharashtra are creative expression of the women of a tribe known as Warli. The name of this painting is dedicated to this tribe. These paintings are a picturization of daily life. Scenes in these paintings include animals, birds, humans in their daily activities, celebrations, hunting etc. These paintings are expressed by these words- “Painted white on mud walls, they are pretty close to pre-historic cave paintings in execution and usually depict scenes of human figures” [2]. Another bold and colourful expression of the feminine creativity is the Madhubani Painting of Bihar which is also named as of Mithila Art due to its roots in the Mithila region of Bihar. Originally painted on mud walls, motifs of hindu deities like Devi Durga, Devi Saraswati and Lakshmi, Lord Shiva, Krishna, Tulsi plant, Moon and Sun, wedding processions and rituals etc. are depicted using mineral pigment colours. Geometric shapes eg: fine lines are used for the purpose of filling. Aipan paintings of Kumaon region is a ritualistic folk art, is believed to provide protection from the evil. Events like festivals, auspicious occasions and even death rituals are prominently expressed in white colour (cooked rice paste) in this painting. Floor and walls of the houses serve as the canvas for this art. Red ochre mud called ‘Geru’ in local language is coated to provide a background. Phad painting of Rajasthan is done on cloth depicting local deities and stories, and the legends of local rulers. It is a type of scroll painting made using bright and subtle colours. The outline of paintings are first drawn using blocks and later on filled with colours. These paintings are often carried from place to place by the traditional singers, who narrate the various themes depicted on scrolls. Along with Phad, Rajasthan is also known for its elaborate, highly intricate and refined, Pichwai paintings. They are used as backdrops in the famous Shrinathji Temple at Nathdwara. Their main theme is Shrinathji and his miraculous stories [3]. Gond community is famous for their unique style of painting which is famous by the name of Gond paintings. These paintings feature the relation of nature and its connection to humans on the walls and floors of the buildings of this tribe. “It is done with the construction and re- construction of each and every house, with local colors and materials like charcoal, coloured soil, plant sap, leaves, cow dung, limestone powder, etc. The images are tattoos or minimalist human and animal forms” [4] [5]. According to the beliefs of the tribal people, these paintings attract good luck, so they used to paint these on their walls and floors. This artwork was also very skilfully used by the Gond tribe to record their history. Rogan Paintings, an art form used for painting textiles in the Kutch district (Gujarat), declined in the latter half of the 20th century. This is now mastered and practiced by only 2 families of Kutch. “In this craft, paint made from boiled oil and vegetable dyes is laid down on fabric using either a metal block (printing) or a stylus (painting)”[6].

The Mandana paintings are connected to the Hadoti area of Rajasthan and that too with the Meena community residing in this area. This painting work is executed by the women of this community on floor and walls. According to the beliefs of this community, Mandana paintings provide protection to their homes. For this kind of paintings, limestone powder or chalk powder is used as a painting medium. The ground is prepared by applying a mixture of cow dung, geru and a clay called rati. For painting, a date stick, a small cluster of hair or a piece of cotton fabric is used as a tool. Figures of women at work, lord Ganesha, birds and animals like peacock and tiger respectively, floral motifs etc. can be noticed in Mandana paintings. [7] The Saura tribe belonging to Orissa state are known for their wall paintings based on spiritual and ceremonial themes. “A study of their art and painting tradition reveals the rich ancient tribal art idiom, which is still in vogue with popular appeal” [8]. These paintings appear somewhat like warli paintings and are given the name- ‘Ikons’. In these paintings, motifs like moon and sun, tree of life, animals like horses, elephants and also humans are found painted using natural colours prepared using white stone, earth, flower and leaf extracts.

With advancement in time, growing industrialization and modernization there has been a rise in preference for mass produced, machine made articles which has posed a threat to our traditional crafts and has raised concern in the country to preserve, sustain and cultivate our traditional assets so that they sustain the wave of modernization and remain available to the future generations. For this purpose, folk paintings can be applied on textile products which are an integral part of our life. These products range from small articles like handkerchiefs, purse and pouches, bags, clothing, up to large articles like bed covers and draperies. In this way these paintings can become a part of our daily lives resulting in their revival and growth. The objective of this paper is to present a review of 5 works published during each of the past five years (2016-2020) respectively which aim at reviving Indian folk paintings through their application on textiles / apparel / lifestyle accessories. This review paper is based on secondary sources. Extensive literature review was carried out to obtain elaborate information about various attempts made to apply folk paintings of India on textiles for the purpose of their revival; within the span of past five years (2016-2020). Online research databases namely Academia, Researchgate, Krishikosh e-granth, Shodhganga, Google Scholar have been used to access research papers, review papers, conference proceedings, Ph. D/ Dissertation thesis and other related text. In addition to this books, newspaper articles, reports from government and national institutes, websites have also been accessed online. Keywords such as ‘Folk paintings of India’, ‘Intervention in folk art for application on textiles’, ‘Apparel for craft revival’ etc. have been used. The total works studied were categorized with reference to their publication year and five works from each year starting from 2016 to 2020 were selected for review.

Discussion

This section has been discussed in 5 parts on the basis of the year of publication of the respective studies.

Table-1: YEAR- 2016

Table-3: YEAR- 2018

Table-5: YEAR- 2020

Conclusion

The rich cultural heritage of India must be protected and made to flourish. Various folk paintings of India and their revival has been presented through this paper. Both traditional and modern methods have been used for revival of paintings as discussed in this paper. Some experts do not consider using modern processes like screen printing, digital printing as suitable majorly because of two reasons. First reason is that traditionally folk arts were ecofriendly and using modern methods violates this spirit and the second reason is that mass production of these folk arts will cause distortions in these art forms which will lead to loss of originality with time. After going through the works done for revival of folk paintings on textiles/ textile products, the researcher feels that a blended approach is the need of this hour. Neither manual nor modern industrial methods can alone complete the task. Along with this a combined effort of government and the citizens is required. We as citizens must be aware of our responsibility towards the rich heritage. This study will provide helpful inputs about the past works for the upcoming efforts in this field so that so that, these arts they see the light of the future.

Reference

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