Patachitra Artisanal Workshops with EkiBeki | 29th Mar | Gregs Cafe, Chembur

Something our school history books do not teach us is the evolution of our art forms have also been influenced by the world around us. Like, for instance, the evolution of Patachitra art. When artisans migrated to urban Calcutta (as it used to be called then) in search of better livelihood, they absorbed the prevailing influencers like British customs and habits, Mughal revivalists, Sanskrit theatre and performances. And it started to reflected in their art.  

Kalighat in West Bengal and Puri in Odisha, with its daily hordes of pilgrims, provided a perfect opportunity for the local artists to produce lithographs of their art. These became small cheap religious souvenirs, this period coincided with the age of mass reproduction in the form of woodcut, lithography, oleograph and printing. This made it easy to create the souvenirs and more people got familiar with the Patachitra style of paintings.  

Bapi Chitrakar and his wife Tagar artisans from West Bengal are looking forward to taking you through the painting style during the workshop we use paper for our art. Feel free to ask them their stories our workshops are like a human library to browse through

Host or Publisher EkiBeki Association