Artisana, Crafts Council of West Bengal, presented Utsav, in association with t2, a celebration of India’s rich and diverse heritage of arts, crafts and culture. Held from November 1-10 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, it offered an extraordinary journey into the heart of India’s cultural roots, exploring its creative traditions down the ages. The 10-day cultural festival showcased indigenous artworks and craft forms like paintings, textiles, weaves, pottery and more from various parts of the country. It also featured performances of folk music and dances of India, live art and craft demonstrations by expert artisans, a fashion walk and discussions on the history, influences and development of specific folk and tribal art and craft traditions and their role in shaping its people’s socio-cultural destiny. Snapshots.
Politician, activist and Indian handicrafts curator Jaya Jaitly (left) delivered a presentation on ‘Promoting Crafts For The Future’, moderated by Anjum Katyal
Filmmaker Goutam Ghose presented a talk on ‘Crafts, Textiles and Cinema’, moderated by Oindrilla Dutt
Design historian Sonia Ashmore’s (left) talk on ‘Market For Indian Textiles’ focused on the influence of Indian textiles on British fashion trends since early colonial times. The session was moderated by Darshan Shah
Utsav also saw a fashion walk on the theme of Dashghara Dhaniakhali by Bibi Russell, with music by Joy Sankar
Author Ashoke Chatterjee (left) and social entrepreneur Dr Nilesh Priyadarshi participated in a session on ‘Who Owns Crafts Knowledge’. The session was moderated by Nandita Palchoudhuri
British academic and author Arthur MacGregor presented a session on ‘Modelling India (Clay)’