chalchitra academy

Since 2012 Chalchitra Academy has been working to build a bridge between folk and urban artists all over West Bengal and India while simultaneously searching for the historical roots of the varied forms of traditional art-forms. It has been informing artists, students, and amateurs alike about the archaeological, cultural, and artistic values of lokaja and bhumija artistry through organising successive workshops in Kolkata and other districts. Those have entailed discussions about folk-art, displaying the folk-artists at work, and organising exhibitions.

Though the original idea was that of artist Mrinal Mandal’s, the founder & Secretary of Chalchitra Academy, it was only through a collaborative effort amongst friends, artists and scholars alike, that we ventured 5 km outside the Jhargram town into the annals of the Junglemahals. There, in a small village inhabited by people hailing from the Lodha tribe we have started setting up a public and participatory art-project. Erstwhile named as Laalbazar, the famous scholar and writer Shivaji Bandopadhyay gave it the moniker of Khwaabgaon and from thence on Chalchitra Academy has envisioned to include each and every adult and child in that project to create a holistic sociocultural outreach. A picturesque hamlet surrounded by Shal, Mahua, Palash, and steeped in abject poverty, Laalbazar was originally set-up some 70-80 years ago as a farmland for the Malla Ugal Shandadev dynasty of Jhargram. But, owing to the Criminal Tribes Act (passed in 1871 and then extended to cover the erstwhile Bengal Presidency in 1876) and also due to the socio-political denigration and ethno-economic segregation faced in the hands of brahminism, the members of the Lodha community has always faced an inhumanly uphill struggle to make both ends meet and lead respectable lives. This project is thusly an earnest promise to remedy that situation as deeply and permanently as possible. Artists from all backgrounds have stepped in to provide their craft and expertise. The famous artist and Rajya Sabha MP Jogen Chowdhury has even created a logo for this project. Each Saturday we organise free classes on painting, sculpture, quilt work, kutum katam, etc. along with teaching the kids how to meditate. All the walls in the village have been covered up by humongous and mesmerising paintings done by various artists over the course of multiple workshops. With each passing day more and more artists, both traditional and contemporary, from cities, towns, and other villages alike have come to work with

and for the villagers of Khwaabgaon.

Bidhan Biswas, the much acclaimed alpana artist from Krishnanagar had come to Khwaabgaon teach the villagers how to use chalky soil to create intricate designs on red laterite soil upon the chitrapatas and the walls. Through a collaboration between Chalchitra Academy and Lalit Kala Academy, such traditional patachitra painters as Manu Chitrakar, Bahadur Chitrakar, Dukhushyam Chitrakar, and Swarna Chitrakar came from Nayagram to show them how to extract natural pigments and gums from leaves, flowers, tendrils, etc. and how to use those to create geometric and floral patterns on chitrapatas. Jayati Banerjee, the famous designer from Kolkata who is also the co-founder of Chalchitra Academy, has

a student of the Govt. Art College who worked along with the village-kids to paint graffities on another wall.

Other than these artists from Shantiniketan, there were artists like Gopal Chandra Naskar and Rajkumar Baidya who painted graffities on the walls of Khwaabgaon. But, perhaps the most mesmerising of the lot was the artist Kaustav Chakraborty from Bolagarh, Hughly, whose brush endowed the walls with subjects varying from figments of rural life to stylised paintings of Tathagata Buddha, spreading a deep vibe of bliss, love, and beautiful wisdom. All these had immensely influenced the village kids who had taken up painting themselves and had covered many a walls with their own blooming artistry.

been taking classes to teach various forms of stitching and quilt work. Another designer, Paramita Kar Chowdhury, has taught the villagers the tenets of eco-print by using flowers, leaves, fruits, soil, and rusted metal-parts to create ecofriendly pigments used for creating vivid designs on cotton-based fabric.

In an installation art-project named Sanglap Parva 1, three artists, formerly students at Shantiniketan, came to collaborate with the villagers and create art-works using various material and visual elements of the village-life. They were Nitish Kumar, Upama Chakraborty, and Deepanjan Paul. Yet another ex-student from Visvabharati, Babli Paul, later arrived to paint an enormous picture using the walls of a hut as her canvas. Then there was Ankita Sau,

Last winter Laalbazar witnessed a folk-festival titled as Khwaabgaon Parban. Countless artists and enthusiasts arrived to take part in the myriads of workshops dealing with lokaja art-forms, discussions, musical revelry, and a grand feast. Chalchitra Academy attempted at reviving Chhang, an ancient performative art-form of the Lodha tribe, by organising a workshop portraying this rich heritage of dramatic singing and dancing that uses miniature madals and another percussive instrument, named Changu, which is said to be unique to the Lodha community. The last year also saw programmes where Chalchitra Academy planted more than a hundred trees and distributed clothes to the villagers that would suffice for an entire year. Additionally there had been systematic drives at increasing the rate of literacy.

This year started off with the international workshop “Sanglap Parva 2: Exploring the margin” where the artists Tracy Lee Stum and Sayak Mitra arrived from the USA. With an active participation of the children of Khwaabgaon and neighbouring Jhargram, Tracy delved into the magical world of 3D painting. For the rest of this year up till the current lockdown was enforced to combat COVID-19, Khwaabgaon saw a steady stream of endless artists, scholars, activists, and enthusiasts who toured across the landscape, marvelled at the artworks, interacted with the villagers, provided their own inputs at socio-economically

summer months of 2021. Dr. Soumen Khamrui, Director of Rajya Charukala Parshat, Govt. of West Bengal visited us and conducted a Batik workshop. The entire village enthusiastically participated learning the process of an age-old resist dye technique from Indonesia. Over 50 brilliant squarish scarves were produced by the Khwaabgaon inhabitants unleashing their creative vision. Similar sessions are planned in 2021 to create some value-added fashion products, that will eventually economically benefit them. Dr. Khamrui also motivated children to pursue their studies and gifted them lovely school bags. The year ended with a fabulous interaction and performance session by Arindam Barman and Somnath Sardar;

bettering the rural life, and lauded the organisers and village elders with precious words of appreciation and encouragement.

Around the end of the year, in December 2020, two capacity building workshops and one Mime workshop were organized. The sand casting workshop conducted by Dr. Soujit Das of GCAC, Kolkata and sculptor Rishin Ketan Shaw, introduced children and young adults of the village in decorative sand tile casting with waste products. The attempt was to introduce ideas of recycling waste into art forms. A large sand-cast mural at site will be undertaken in the

two young members of the famous Jogesh Mime Academy, Kolkata. The children learned about the communicative power of mime performances and with only three days workshop and rehearsal, picked up the basics of the art. Our biggest moment of joy came as the select children of the community performed their first mime play before hundreds of audience at a local event in the CRPF base camp. Their play spoke about the ill effects of technology and how it affects our human relationships.

Each year during the Badhna/Sohrai rituals, the walls are coated with fresh layer of paint,

welcoming the new harvest season. Many of the previous murals were erased during this event to accommodate new images. We at Chalchitra Academy see this process of erasure and creation as part of the larger living tradition. Artist Koustabh Chakraborty and later artist Upama Chakraborty spent few days in the village, creating two new murals. Koustabh’s work portrays the peaceful co-habitation between man and nature whereas Upama captured the snippets of rural life. Year 2021 started off with several positive notes. Chalchitra Academy organized a Shellac Doll workshop with legendary artist Sri Brindaban Chandra, who recently was praised by the Prime Minister for his excellent shellac Ganesha figure. Brindaban Babu taught his art to over 30 participants who joined from different districts of West Bengal along with the children of the village. Swami Bedpurushanandaji Maharaj, secretary of Ramakrishna Mission at Jhargram lifted the spirit of the workshop with his kind presence and words of wisdom. The children also got the chance to transform their clay modelling works into terracotta under the guidance of sculptor Rishin Ketan Shaw. The shellac dolls made during the workshop by the children are finding collectors and connoisseurs in visitors of Khawaabgaon. On the eve of the closing ceremony of the two day workshop, a classical recital: Moonlight Melodies was organized, where Sitar exponent Sri Ashish Majumdar, Violinist Sri Sunanda Kundu and Tabla artist Sri Swapan Shit mesmerized the audience with their jugalbandi. Two more capacity building workshops were conducted recently in February 2021. Designer Jayati Banerjee conducted a four day rigorous workshop with the working women and young girls of the village, teaching them new techniques of embroidery and appliqué art. Several small scale textile items were created to promote handmade products. Educator Mousumi Ghosh conducted a pickle making workshop producing over 50 bottles of different type of pickles with various kind of seasonal vegetables, chillies and local berries. The bottles sold out too quickly creating a huge demand amongst visitors to Khwaabgaon. We are planning to upscale the production soon.

Recently a community fund has been created from the proceedings of the sale of various art and lifestyle products that are being created by the villagers. It is managed by the villagers and supervised by the Chalchitra Members. Many villagers are taking interest free loans for their own individual cause and timely replenishing the coffers. This has helped to develop a self-sustained model, which will be nurtured further in the coming days. A dedicated community workshop space is also in the pipeline. Chalchitra Academy’s work at Khwaabgaon, continues to inspire people from all walks of life. Famous Bengali Matinee Idol Anirban Bhattacharya recently took to social media platform to express his views on Khwaabgaon. He has been inspired by the wall paintings of Khawaabgaon and with a team of young local artists from his neighbourhood, transformed his locality into a colourful canvas. The trend continues from 2020 Durga Puja, when a young artist created a themedpandal in Dakshineswar area after Khwaabgaon’s painted houses. Recently in a century old prestigious school at the heart of City of Joy, painted their school premises taking inspiration from our work on the occasion of worshipping the Goddess Saraswati: the goddess of art and literature. Recently as part of our community outreach programme, two new nearby villages, Uranshol and Gangadharpur in Jhargram District has been added to our efforts. Three day weekly programme is presently being conducted where around 60 students

between the age group of 10-20 are learning the basics of visual art. The compost making culture of Khawaabgaon also made it to the headlines of a leading Bengali Daily.

Chalchitra Academy feels really honoured and privileged by the visit of some important educators, artists and film personalities who recently shared some time with us at Khwaabgaon. Famous cartoonist and illustrator Sri Debashis Deb along with his family spent an entire day teaching the art of caricature to kids. He even supported our cause by drawing on one of the walls in the village with his signature brush strokes. The principal of prestigious Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission College Swami Sastragyananandaji Maharaj along with his colleagues Swami Brahmeswaranandaji Maharaj, Swami Prabharanandaji Maharaj and Bhai Shrutichaitanya visited Khawaabgaon and praised the efforts of our team. They even collected several driftwood sculptures and other artworks for their newly constructed museum at the college premises. Scientist Dr. Santanu Bhowmik (Professor and Head, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore) who has been working closely with DRDO and ISRO among other national agencies visited and encouraged us. Dr. Bhowmik is credited with the invention of light weight bullet proof jackets for Indian Army amongst many other path breaking patents. We had been fortunate to have a productive brain storming session about our future road-map. Possibilities of some collaboration for development of the basic facilities in the village are also in the talks.

Dr. Prasun Ghosh, Dr. Mrinal Kanti Saha, Dr. Himanshu Roy, Dr. ANindya Sundar Patra and pharmacist Partha Chakraborty graced us with their presence by organizing the free complete health check up camp at Khwaabgaon. These leading doctors practicing at Jhargram super speciality hospital indulged in thorough check up of all villagers. Minor ailments were treated at site and medicines were distributed, and other critical issues were taken up later at the hospital. The doctors are now in close contact with the villagers, helping them in periodic consultation. They also helped two villagers with surgeries that were done free of cost.

During the course of 2019-2021, our work has brought this once neglected village of Lalbazaar (rechristened as Khwaabgaon) into limelight, drawing attention of several local authorities. When we started work at the village, there was not a single proper lavatory that was available for the villagers. The people here have been neglected for their social status, their existence almost forgotten. Our artistic activity at Khwaabgaon brought PWD officials to the village, who has constructed few permanent lavatories in the village. This has helped to curb the problem of open defecation and has set new standards of personal hygiene and sanitation for the dwellers.

As this project entails a holistically sustained dialogue between the rural and urban communities working towards a financial up-liftment of the former through the agency of art and craft (essentially a marriage of the folk and the contemporary traditions, i.e. a confluence of the lokayata and the cosmopolita), it might be termed as a public art project. Day and night the villagers are living inside a world of artworks, almost regularly they are

entering into conversations with the visiting artists and activists. Their entire existence is experiencing an artistic rejuvenation, their lives are becoming a invocation for a kaleidoscope of varied art-forms, their economic condition is seeing a steadying tide of betterment. Chalchitra Academy has even encouraged the villagers to cultivate medicinal plants like Tulsi, Basak, Aloevera, etc. as viable cash-crops for the herbal medicinal industry. All in all both the rural and the urban worlds are gaining from each other symbiotically. This is nought but an ever-evolving organic gallery. An open-air diorama of sustained development. Each year the walls of the huts are getting decked up in newer paintings and graffities. Puja, Deep, Kiran, Shubha, Saptika, Priyanka, and all the other kids of the village are experiencing first hand the reincarnation of their quaint hamlet. Their boundless joy and are experiencing first hand the reincarnation of their quaint hamlet. Their boundless joy and active participation is perhaps the only dividend that matters after all. Shashthicharan Ahir, a differently-abled man from the village has been an artistic workhorse in his creation of endless examples 0f Kutum Katam. Tourists from all over West Bengal and India are coming in to purchase this and other examples of artistic items. Durga, Kajol, And other women of the village are getting increasing numbers of orders for exquisite quilt work, goyna-bori and eco printed dresses. Schools from all over West Bengal are organising excursions for the students to come to Khwaabgaon, collaborate with the village children, and experience this magical project of ours. An up and working wall magazine is just a token proof of this wonderful syncresis. Nabin Ahir, the aged chief of the village has been exceptionally supportive of our work and has proudly been witnessing how Chalchitra Academy has been slowly but steadily transforming the entirety of the landscape inside and out. The members chemistry. Sujata Tarafdar, a professor from Jadavpur University, department of physics, has helped to set up a burgeoning library for the kids. Chandana Ghosh, a geography teacher, has bought for them a globe. Whenever she gets the chance, Jayati Banerjee comes to teach Buddhist meditation to the kids and the elders alike. Moreover, students and scholars like Ankita, Rwisin etc. from different universities visit Khwaabgaon at every possible chances they get to teach the children.

This enormous project has been undertaken by Chalchitra Academy without any constant help or support from any sources whatsoever, government or private. At few rare occasions we have been fortunate to receive workshop based grant from Lalit Kala Akademi, Ministry of Culture and Rajya Charukala Parshad, Govt. of West Bengal. Our members, collaborators, and a steadying number of enthusiasts have made it possible for this flow of activities to sustain itself seamlessly. Working as mentors, this project is being categorically documented by Soujit Das, a professor of art-history from Kolkata Govt. College of Art & Craft, and Shubhankar Das, a researcher, art-writer, and scholar from Jadavpur University. It is but a cumulative effort of all of them that has made this open-air organic studio-cum- gallery possible. Lastly, with an everlasting pledge to work holistically for the environment and the lokayatik life through art, craft, and sincere dedication, its our heartfelt wish to welcome everybody to Khwaabgaon.

Mrinal Mandal, Chalchitra Academy