Cultural Fusion & Hybrid Art – 1
In the olden days textile-art hybrids came about when a woman married into another group and brought with her art-memes from her parental culture. Today the world has shrunk and … Continue reading
The Holy River Ganga
A few sunrise photos captured on the phone camera of the important Ganga whose significance to Hindus is as deep as its waters. This may seem obvious – but … Continue reading
Benaras Ganga Diaries
An unplanned visit to the Ganga came my way. For spiritual reasons. For filial piety reasons. For ceremonies that complete the cycle of life & death. Measured in the number … Continue reading
Pattua Singing from Bengal
In Bengal, in the olden days, in order to disseminate the holy stories, folk legends adn perhaps even news of major events, Pattua scrolls were used. Women first painted out … Continue reading
Handlooms of India
The title of this note is misleading as it is too broad – it is like saying ‘the universe’… I am sure that even if I were to toil 10 … Continue reading
Parsis and the Opium Trade
Yesterday at a condolence visit, the conversation with my top mentors, inadvertently veered into the subject of collectibles and we spoke of many random subjects such as his encounter with … Continue reading
Rich & Poor
The Barber comes home…. Do we in the big city have this luxury? A little village with its own little wheels of economic output, buying and selling services that are … Continue reading
External Article: Caste System
Worth reading “Why is the world so obsessed with India’s caste system” by Sahana Singh
Daily Art Fix – Warli Paintings on Dung
The original idea was to use the cow dung walls of homes as the medium to paint on using white pigment made of rice & gum. Then at some point … Continue reading
Royal Loin Cloths of Ceylon
Exploring some amazing rare antique loin cloths of Ceylon
News from the National Museum Delhi
An interesting pre-exhibition note by the curator on bringing the exhibition “The Everlasting Flame Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination” to Delhi. “A curator’s view: some key items from the British … Continue reading
And we thought ornaments were only for people? Traditional Animal Adornments – 2
Link to PART I And the journey continues…. Part II These are adornments filled with love for the animal. For why else would one create such artworks for … Continue reading
Understanding the Y – Women not allowed in Sabarimala Temple
It is easy to rake up activism simply for the sake of it. After all we have all been raised on inspirational sayings like “be the change you want to … Continue reading
A New Museum with a Fabulous Fresh Focus!
A museum or rather an institution that focuses on perpetuating the art amongst the creators … a museum in which the creators can see and learn from the work of … Continue reading
An Affluent Community Endangered?!
Parsis or Zorastrians number only about 75000 worldwide and in spite of being one of the most affluent communities in the world, they are an endangered ethnic group. They have … Continue reading
Motif & Meaning – Caravans & Herders
More textiles, more meaning! Here are some created by a Bishnoi group from Rajasthan India. These motifs that tell us about their lives through their portrayal of the cultural elements … Continue reading
Narakasur again
Driving back to my home in Goa last night, I saw many fully constructed Narakasurs along the way home. Saw many groups of children stopping cars for donations…. But regrettably … Continue reading
Shared Festivals across the Border
Is it any surprise that India and China have festivals that are somilar in manisfestation? Compare the Lantern festival to Diwali. Lanterns for Diwali or the Mid-Autumn Festival? Compare the … Continue reading
Beauty is Ageless
“Beauty begets beauty” Timeless beauty from Gujarat creating more timeless beauty.
Mochi or Cobbler Embroidery of Gujarat
Anyone who knows Gujarati or Hindi knows that Mochi means a cobbler. So when I first heard my dealer say that a category of very fine embroidery is known as … Continue reading
The Superfine Embroidery of Awadh – Chikan Kari
Another superb article on Chikan embroidery of Lucknow. Link to the Article Nov 2015
