Kolkata :
Two-fifty-nine years after East India Company brought business to Bengal, the roles have reversed. Brand Bengal, aka Biswa Bangla, has travelled the British Isles, and it means business.
Starting Tuesday, shows are being organized in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow to hard-sell the exotic arts and crafts of Bengal. The exhibitions will be a prologue to the grand Biswa Bangla showroom coming up in London three months later, as announced by chief minister Mamata Banerjee during her London visit in July, last year.
Titled “Gods and Demons”, the event will include live demonstrations and workshops on the making and rich history of the masks of Bengal. There will be visual storytelling from Patachitra, which was used originally as ways of spreading ancient mythology. The integration of modern social themes and issues in the artwork makes patachitra and mask-making inspiring tools for today’s artists.
Talking to TOI about UK’s exposure to “Bengal summer” at the Nehru Centre (till Friday), the Scots in the Museum of Edinburgh on May 12 and 13, Rajiva Sinha, secretary, micro and small and medium scale enterprises (MSME) and textiles, said, “The Biswa Bangla tagline ‘where the world meets Bengal’ says it all. The most exciting part of the event are the live shows by artisans Suman Chitrakar and Sankar Das. They have blended the traditional art-forms into the modern-day usage.”
In Glasgow, the location for the grand event is the Art Village Scotland which will be held on May 14 and 15, as part of the Southside Fringe festival.
“Biswa Bangla believes there is a keen appreciation for Bengal arts and crafts in the modern global community and we want the British to be a part of it, keep these art forms alive by bringing the magic of Bengal’s temples into the UK living rooms,” said London-based designer Neishaa Gharat, who represents Biswa Bangla in the UK.
Das, who hails from Sabdalpur village in South Dinajpur, will tell the British audience how “there was no rain in Kushmundi 200 years ago and people started praying to the gods for rain and to restrict the evil powers. Many characters became part of the dance, Kali, Rakshasa, Hanuman and Dakini – these are the faces we still carve today.”
Chitrakar, a villager from Naya who has applied patachitra to modern-day products like painted bags, apparels and crockery said, “Patachitra painting started many years ago. Patuas were mostly Muslims but painted Hindu gods. They moved house-to-house, singing for grains and money. Gradually, this took the shape of the art form we see today. In 2004, there were only 18 patuas in Naya, now there are 300.”
Gharat, who has been working with traditional Indian arts, crafts and textiles promoting artisans and creating designs for a global audience, sounded exited “because this is a government initiative to revive the art and craft of Bengal, which is one the most culturally diverse states in India. The art forms are fascinating because they give away such a stark dichotomy between tradition and modernity. There’s a tremendous legacy of skilled work out there and the willingness to take it forward.”
John Bell, former chairmen of the British Guild of Travel Writers and a consultant for the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, delivered the key note speech. Bell, who started his career with the BBC in London, producing and reporting for its travel and transport programmes on radio and television, said, “The work is not just a question of design, its jobs and poverty … this beautiful art is not just beautiful art, its beautiful art for good … the more we trade, the more we work, the more work we give to our friends Shankar Das and Suman Chitraker here, the more we are doing for the people of West Bengal and doing good for ourselves.”
– Aimed at rejuvenating the state’s handloom and handicraft products, Biswa Bangla was conceptualized in 2013
– The first store to sell products under the brand opened in 2014
– With 7 stores, the venture clocked a Rs 15 crore in 2014
– In the next two years, revenue is expected to increase six-fold to about Rs 100 crore.
– Among the arts being revived at Biswa Bangla are:
– Indo-Portuguese shawls (takes six months to embroider)
– Muslin
– Darjeeling tea
– Masks
– Attar perfumes
– Kalimpong cheese
– Mustard sauce
– Sundarbans honey
– Bonolokkhi ghee
– States like Rajasthan and UP are adopting the Biswa Bangla model
– Biswa Bangla markets 5,000 products, including 24 kinds of dolls from various parts of the state
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Ajanta Chakraborty / May 04th, 2016