Food, clothing, arts and crafts generally mirrors the culture of a civilization. These avenues also augment/boosts the economy of a country. These are mass produced through technical excellence which increases speed and quantity but the real challenge is to produce them through human and environment friendly methods.
Given the current crisis in agriculture, handloom weaving, traditional arts like pottery, handmade traditional crafts, painting etc., there is a large scale migrations of youth out of villages. These rural migrants contribute to the rising number of workers as construction wagers or other unskilled work force which is emerging as the largest urban livelihood. There is no place for upward mobility for the migrants with scarce resources.
Even the few left in the rural areas find it difficult to lead a reasonable livelihood. It was at Bidar, I realized that a bidriware craft 'Surahi' sold for Rs 800 in the hotel souvenir shop was sold at less than half rate of rs 350 by the artisans at the craft cottage. I had even blogged about it here. The middleman guzzles the amount while the artisans get paltry sum for their labour. Due to the unreasonable labor charges, the bidri craft is almost dying. Most of them live in dingy rooms which are not properly lit. I have heard similar stories from many crafts person during the annual crafts mela at Shilparamam.
The responsibility before society is to encourage the rural economy by supporting Indian farmers, weavers and artisans thus indirectly contributing towards a sustainable environment and help them in marketing their products to the outer world and also help retain the cultural identity of our country.
This post draws attention to one such story of the patachitra artists of heritage arts and crafts village of Raghurajpur, Odisha. Watch the below video and see how the creative artists are underappreciated.
Read more about them at Traditional artists, Modern Gallery.
This post is my contribution to Tata capital's Doright -halfstories - The journey of doing right.
Given the current crisis in agriculture, handloom weaving, traditional arts like pottery, handmade traditional crafts, painting etc., there is a large scale migrations of youth out of villages. These rural migrants contribute to the rising number of workers as construction wagers or other unskilled work force which is emerging as the largest urban livelihood. There is no place for upward mobility for the migrants with scarce resources.
Even the few left in the rural areas find it difficult to lead a reasonable livelihood. It was at Bidar, I realized that a bidriware craft 'Surahi' sold for Rs 800 in the hotel souvenir shop was sold at less than half rate of rs 350 by the artisans at the craft cottage. I had even blogged about it here. The middleman guzzles the amount while the artisans get paltry sum for their labour. Due to the unreasonable labor charges, the bidri craft is almost dying. Most of them live in dingy rooms which are not properly lit. I have heard similar stories from many crafts person during the annual crafts mela at Shilparamam.
The responsibility before society is to encourage the rural economy by supporting Indian farmers, weavers and artisans thus indirectly contributing towards a sustainable environment and help them in marketing their products to the outer world and also help retain the cultural identity of our country.
This post draws attention to one such story of the patachitra artists of heritage arts and crafts village of Raghurajpur, Odisha. Watch the below video and see how the creative artists are underappreciated.
This post is my contribution to Tata capital's Doright -halfstories - The journey of doing right.
You mirrored my views, I was also thinking of writing about them . We have such beautiful arts and things made by them and we must support them by using Indian crockery showpieces, furniture etc...
ReplyDeleteGlad the post resonates with you, Renu Do write, would like to read your version too.
DeleteThanks for the wonderful post. We should support these artists.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support, SG:) The idea is to share the story and create awareness.
DeleteAlas, being seriously shopping challenged, I can't help their lot personally, but have compunctions at all in heartily recommending to the oniomanic, of which kind there are many :):)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ramesh. Sharing and recommending is another way of helping these artists. BTW, did you read the embedded post. You don't have to be oniomaniac to buy these things:):)
DeleteOMG!! There is so much of exploitation of these talented artists! The disparity in the rates is shocking!! We must certainly support these artists!!
ReplyDeleteBTW, you must have Twitter, Facebook and Google + share buttons on your blog, Asha!! Easier to share with that way :)
All the very best for the contest, Asha!! :)
Yes Shilpa. There is so much of blood, tears and toil behind the creative efforts and somebody else gets its fruits. I have tweeted already. The post already has got good views, so am glad i could create some awareness. More than a contest, this is my little contribution for the Dorights efforts. Thank you, Shilpa:)
DeleteNice post , i hope everyone will like your post
ReplyDeleteAmazing article. yes its true that these arts can contribute to the countries economy and pride to a great extent directly or indirectly .Indian music has always been welcomed by people of western culture at times when i attend some concerts i feel the foreigners enjoying it more than us adding to it to get a better view on all kind of Indian Music you have a Music Store Online
ReplyDelete