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Daksha: Crafting Voices – An Exhibition to Revive Traditional Cultural Crafts and Heritage Practices
As a part of the Rural Craft and Cultural Hubs (RCCH) project, funded by the Department of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and Textiles (MSME&T), Government of West Bengal, UNESCO New Delhi organised an exhibition titled Daksha – Crafting Voices at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture in Kolkata from 21 June to 25 June 2023.
The event showcased the rich traditional crafts of West Bengal while emphasizing the ethos of harmonizing tradition with contemporary lifestyle. Through the exhibition, the project aims to advance the cause of uplifting rural arts and revive traditional cultural practices, making them a viable livelihood source for the practitioners.
The event was set up to act as an alliance between rural artists and urban designers and organizations working with craft products in domestic markets, export spaces, hospitality, and interior decoration industry as well as new craft-based startups. This creative cause operated with the overarching social cause of connecting the rural crafts-persons directly with the market and expanding the reach of their creativity.
Though West Bengal is rich in performing arts and craft that have traditionally served as means of livelihood for a sizable number of rural communities, the continuity of such traditions is at stake. Thus, restoring the dignity of, and providing decent income opportunities through their ancestral traditional knowledge and skills is particularly vital for rural artisans and performers.
The traditional crafts displayed at the exhibition included Sabai, Shola,Kantha, Madur, Sitalpati,Chau Mask, wooden masks, Dhokra, Kenjakura handloom, basketry and Patachitra.
Swarup Dutta, the lead designer and curator of the exhibition shared, “As a curator of the exhibition, it was my endeavour to develop a contemporary voice for our folk craft practices, so that the products and the producers can connect to the large urban market, specifically for the hospitality sector.”
Among the multiple features of local art and craftsmanship, the exhibition also had innovative products for eco-friendly packaging and corporate gifting by the design team of Contact Bases well as other products by the implementing partners Sarva Shanti Ayog and Kadam.
As a part of the showcase, two panel discussions on Crafts and Hospitality, and Crafts for GenNEXT were also organised, on 21 and 23 June respectively. The panelists included academics, craft-preneurs, and members of private sector organisations such as Srila Chatterjee, Founder of Baro Market; Sunil Kumar, General Manager of J.W. Marriot Hotel; Meghna Nayak, Founder of Lata Sita, Vishal C. Bhand, Associate Professor of Viswa Bharati University, and Partha Kar, Chief Consultant of Biswa Bangla.
Ankush Seth and Chironjit Ganguly were present at the event as representatives from UNESCO New Delhi. In his remarks, Ankush Seth thanked the community-based makers from across the villages of West Bengal for their participation in the project and for their tenacity to make the products for this exhibition possible. He also thanked the department of MSME and T, Government of West Bengal for their relentless support to the grassroot-based communities through the project across the State. Finally, he urged the market players to analyse, take stock and give critical feedback of the presentation at the exhibit so that the project's implementation partners may make the future interventions market ready.
The event saw tremendous participation from the public and was graced by the presence of representatives from ICCR, Crafts Council of India and West Bengal, British Council among others.
Development and promotion of Intangible Cultural Heritage helps contribute to the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development through social and economic inclusion of the disadvantaged rural communities, and particularly highlights the role of local culture and local products to achieve SDG 8.
For more information about the project, contact:
Junhi Han, Programme Specialist and Chief of Sector for Culture, UNESCO New Delhi: j.han@unesco.org
Ankush Seth, Programme Officer, Culture, UNESCO New Delhi: a.seth@unesco.org
