Basudha: Art and Film Festival 2012

STYLING AT BASUDHA ART AND FILM FESTIVAL
Following are some pictures of my styling work at Basudha Art and Film Festival which was held in Bhubaneswar on the occassion of Rajo celebrating womanhood.

Handicrafts

Something that sets India apart from the rest of the world is her Handicrafts. Indian handicrafts are beautiful, artistically strong and priceless. There's magic in the hands of the simple craftsmen from small villages who devote their lives in creating exquisite hand crafted products.

I consider myself fortunate to have got an opportunity to work with some of the most skilled, talented and creative craftsmen from Tamil Nadu.

Veerapur, a small village in the interiors of Tamil Nadu is popular for its Terracotta products. I had one of the best experiences working there with those sweet craftsmen. What I found fascinating is how the little children who belonged to the families there also knew the art of skillfully rotating the wheel and creating beautiful terracotta crafts from it. They were as perfect as their parents.

My lack of knowledge in Tamil luckily did not become a hindrance in the workshop. The love and support of the craftsmen and other villagers helped me successfully complete the project with some of the most amazing designs.

Today, sitting here infront of my computer, I miss those days when I had tea with those people in earthen tea cups and had local Dosas and played with the little children there, sat in their beautiful farms under huge mango trees to beat the heat.

I am,thus, adding some of the products that I developed there

Terracotta decorative small cups

Terracotta Telephone Stand

Terracotta Telephone Stand

Terracotta Water pots and Flower Vases

Terracotta Flower Vases

Terracotta Water Troughs

Apart from the Terracotta project, I also did a Bell Metal project in this small place called Nacherkoil in Tamil Nadu which is well known for its Bell Metal products.

Below are two of the designs that I developed there.

Bell Metal Candle Stand

Bell Metal Paper Weight

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Illustration

Some of my illustrations :

Madhava...Manmohan

Krishna was probably the most romantic character in Hindu mythology. Everyone, I believe, does get attracted towards the Dark Lord atleast once in life. Thats how his charm was on people, irrespective of their caste, creed, age, sex.
He was Manohar, the beautiful Lord; Shyam, dark complexioned yet immensely attractive and mesmerising; Sudarshana, the most handsome Lord who everyone loved.

Below are two of my hand sketches, the first one is where he plays his flute under the Kalpa Vriksha tree, the tree that fulfills all your wishes and desires. The second one is where Krishna sits with Radha at the banks of Yamuna under the Kadamba tree.




Hand illustrated on Catridge Paper. Medium: Pencil, water color, colored through fingers.




Hand Illustrated on Catridge Paper. Medium: Pencil



Raas Leela- Embroidered

                                                    Hand Embroidered Peacock

This piece of embroidery represents the eternal love making between gopis ( I call them Baawri- meaning crazy, crazy in love) and their only love interest, Krishna.
Peacock is symbolic of Krishna. The multicolored feathers of the peacock show the beautiful gopis who have thus become one with the Supreme Lord, the lively bright colors- pink, red, yellow showing their enthusiasm, their madness, their romanticism.

Just like a peacock's beauty lies in its feathers, similarly, gopis are like Krishna's ornaments, they beautify him with their love, their compassion, their devotion. Here, the multicolored feathers have bejewelled the peacock, giving it a new form which is divine unification of the lovers and the beloved.

The indigo blue sky with shining stars represents that ecstatic night when Krishna made love with his gopis, the night of Raas Leela.

Chita

The Manabasa Gurubaar osha is celebrated on every Thursday in the Oriya month of Margasir goddess Lakshmi is worshiped with utmost devotion by Oriya women.The entrance as well as the door step of the house is decorated with artistic Orissan alpana (called chita).

The material required to make this Chita is usually made out of powdered rice (polished rice) which is soaked in water and converted into a white liquid which works as a coloring agent.

Though Chita is usually put by the women, I was quite excited to try my hands at it.

Traditionally, a Chita is only made in white color, but I tried using more colors to combine the North Indian flavour in Rangoli designs.

Chita is also put during various other pujas and rituals in Oriya culture like Ganesh Puja, saraswati Puja, marriages, Thread ceremony etc.

Below are two designs.The first one is the one that I put during Ganesh Puja and the one following that is which I put during Manabasa Gurubaar.

                                                             Chita during Ganesh Puja

 

Chita (without colors) during Manabasa Gurubaar

Chita (with colors) during Manabasa Gurubaar

Bomkai

Bomkai Sarees are traditional sarees from Orissa. Weaving Bomkai sarees includes techniques of both yarn tie and dye or bandha and extra weft patterning or jaala which is like a dobby mechanism.

While designing these sarees I felt the necessity of working primarily on colors. In most of the designs you would find more earthy, pastel, subdued, urban colors. Such colors are not the traditional colors of textiles in Odisha. They are usually bright and very lively. But I've tried to change the pallette keeping in mind the changing tastes of women in India. Also these colors could help create more demand for Odisha handlooms in bigger towns and cities.
Below are some graphic interpretations of the designs that I have made keeping in mind the trends and demands of customers.

The plain color at the top is the body color and the part worked upon with motifs is the Pallu.