The Indian National
Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is a NGO that seeks to make
strategic and timely intervention in order to conserve and promote India’s
natural and cultural heritage. INTACH is a nation wide network of volunteers
who spread awareness about heritage, preserve acts likely to degrade their
regions cultural and natural wealth and act positively to preserve and enhance
local heritage. INTACH today is the nation’s foremost and largest NGO working
in the field of culture.
MA Y U R
Volume 40, April-Dec, 2011
Newsletter of INTACH (Hazaribagh Chapter)
 |
| Copyright © Sanskriti, Hazaribagh |
Philomina Imam, Juliet Imam and Gustav Imam, Life
members of the INTACH Hazaribagh Chapter were invited by the city of La Rochelle
to represent the tribal art and
Tribal Women Artists’ Cooperative at the
Arts Atlantic exhibition at Espace ENCAN through their project organized by
Espaces Congres de La Rochelle & Centre EuroIndia. The team was in France from 5th to 21st
November. The Autumn Festival of Centre
Intermondes at La Rochelle is an annual feature of the arts
including painting, literature, theatre, documentary, music, etc was held from
September to November, 2011
The TWAC artists painted four murals on canvas sized six by
eight feet each on specially mud treated canvas cloth using only mud pigments
and binder in the traditional method at studio in the Centre Intermondes. The subjects included “Jungle and animals
with Elephant” and “Oraon Totem” by Philomina, and “Sohrai Ghoda” and “Dancing Peacocks” by Juliet were
painted. The of Arts Atlantic exhibition
at ENCAN this year hosted two hundred artists in ten galleries represented
by artists/organizations from the
trans-Atlantic and European region from 18th to 20th
Nov., 2011. This was the seventh edition of the
Festival. The TWAC team was made the Guest of Honour of the Arts
Atlantic Festival and the murals which they painted in traditional Sohrai
designs received widest publicity through the media and French television and
the trip was highly successful. The TWAC has been annually representing
Jharkhand’s tribal art in exhibitions and mural painting projects in Europe and other parts of the world for
over a decade and half. The program at La Rochelle also consisted of an exhibition of
standard sized Sohrai and Khovar paintings made with mud pigments and binder in
the traditional method which TWAC is famous for. The artists painted the large sized murals
commissioned at the Centre Intremonde
where the artists were also accommodated. Here the artists and Gustav had daily
interaction with teams of visiting students interested to study the art through
organized programs. We are thankful to this organization. These artworks were
widely appreciated by thousands of
visitors. The venue was at the
ENCAN-Espaces Congres La Rochelle beside
the famous quay of this renowned Atlantic port on the western coast of France at the delta of the Loire river. The project was supported by
the family of Michel Sabatier , his wife Beroze and daughter Lilya through the
Euro-India Centre. The Espaces Congress de La Rochelle was represented by Ms
Nathalie Durand-Deshayes and Ms.Elizabeth Beauregard. We are thankful to them
and their team for all assistance. It is
important to note that the exhibition and student programs were accompanied by
a large amount of literature on the traditional art-forms being made and
exhibited and accompanied by constant video, presentation and still pictures of the art and its traditional
setting in Jharkhand on closed-circuit television to enlighten and educate the
visitors. Through this the exposition could place before the French public which included guests from
several countries in Europe and others like Canada, Guinea, Australia, etc. the
great depth and range of traditional tribal arts of Jharkhand. The residue of
the exhibition is to go on exhibit at Paris through the offices of the
Euro-India Centre and the organization of Michel Sabatier.
Gandhi
Foundation seminar in London attended by Convener and Co-Convener
On 9th Nov. Shri Bulu Imam and
Co-convener Mrs.Elizabeth Imam attended a seminar organized by the Gandhi
Foundation and Amnesty International at the Amnesty International at the Old
Inn Yard, London. The seminar was on the
problems faced by Adivasi and tribal groups and also reflections on the Gandhi
International Peace Award 2011 for which Shri Bulu Imam and Dr.Binayak Sen have
been nominated.
Europe Tour- Seminars and Exhibitions, March-
April, 2011
Exhibition “A
Disappearing World” at the Brunei Gallery, 13th April to 25th June, 2011
Friends
from far and near in a revival reminiscent of 2008 at the Pigorini in Rome had
assembled -- Susazanne Gupta from Berlin who made our film The One-Eared
Elephant from Hazaribagh (who has eaten up many lettuce leaves and cabbages in
Europe), Michel Sabatier, wife Beroze and daughter Lilya from La Rochelle,
France ( expected to be hosting our next exhibition with the La Rochelle
municipal council, in France during the coming Autumn), The exhibition mentioned above at SOAS was
organized by Robert Wallis and Jennifer Wallace of Cambridge under the
expertise of gallery manager John Hollingworth. Robert's great photographs from
the killing fields -- the coal mines of Jharkhand - were beautifully printed in
large format and displayed beautifully. This was complemented by our specially
prepared artwork on cloth and canvas by the Tribal Women Artists Collective
under the INTACH banner. Justin's
wonderful film of the puja by the Tana
Bhagats to the Thethangi rockart in 1969 was shown in a specially designed room
within the exhibition. Robert's film of the tribal women painting in the
village was shown by closed-circuit TV with headphones for sound. The guests were dazzling in their number and
variety, a great many from the higher London
social circle, but one stood ouit - Bianca Jagger , who promised to
visit us in Jharkhand this coming Sohrai festival at the end of October. The
exhibition was titled: A Disappearing World: Ancient Traditions under threat in Tribal India - Tradition,
Continuity and Conflict in Jharkhand State. The exhibition was for 4 months.
The opening was introduced by the Director of SOAS. Bulu Imam also gave a talk
on the occasion We have to thank for sponsorship of the exhibition and seminars
The Gandhi Foundation, INTACH, SOAS, and the Helen Hamlyn Trust and Charles
Wallace Turst, UK, FIAN Heidelberg and Univ. of Rome.
Two seminars were held
at SOAS on 14th April in conjunction with the Exhibition
The first seminar was from 3-5 pm and held in the SOAS seminar
auditorium. The topic was art, ancestry and tribal identity and was introduced
by Bulu Imam of TWAC and concerned adivasi religious beliefs and art, and their
connections to their ancestral lands and the natural environment endangered
presently by largescale openscale mining in the Karanpura valley which subject
was explicitly treated in theompanying exhibition in the Brunei gallery of SOAS
alongside which featured large format photographs of the hazardous coal mining
taken by photographer Robert Wallis, with large khovar and sohrai paintings by
the artists of the Tribal Women Artists Cooperative.
The second seminar was from 6.30 – 8.30 pm and was on mining, displacement and
resistance in India’s tribal lands which dealt with the
questions of indigenous adivasi identity, the impact of mining on these
peoples lands and on the environment,
and the growing resistance to the mining from
the adivasis, and the government’s response to the resistance.
Papers presented
at La Sapienza, University of Rome, and ISIAO
18th and 19th April two day
international seminar was held by La Sapienza, University of Rome. The first days meeting was in the
grand premises of La Sapienza itself, and second days proceedings were held at
ISIAO, the Italian Institute for the Study of Africa and the Orient. Here an
exhibition on the Khovar and Sohrai art had been set up by Ms Daniela Bezzi
using artworks from the 2008 Pigorini Museum exhibition of TWAC in Rome. The seminar was organized by
Dr.Fabio Scialpi, Head of Dept. of Religion and Philosophy, La Sapienza and
Dr.Tiziana Lorenzetti,
Alongside this exhibition a working display was given by Philomina and
Elizabeth Imam of a Sohrai lotus mandala painted on mud treated cloth. The
proceedings of both days seminar is given below-
The first day’s seminar at La Sapienza, Univ. of Rome was on “Ancient Indian Art History
and Traditions” and consisted of paper given by eminent European and Indian
Scholars on Indian Art and History.
The second
day’s seminar was held at ISIAO in the same way and in this seminar in the
evening I presented his paper titled Tribal
Culture And Oldest Artistic Tradition Of India In State Of Jharkhand
with a slide presentation which was widely accepted.
Philomina and Elizabeth painted a large lotus mandala on cloth using mud
acrylic.
From
Danube to Damodar, TWO RIVERS – ONE LIFE, March 22nd – 29th/Austria
FIAN Austria
hosted the delegation with Bulu Imam, Elizabeth Bara and Philomina Tirkey from
March 22nd to March 29th. Two interviews were planned one for a newspaper, and
one broadcast for Radio Orange, done by “Frauensolidrität”, (Women Solidarity).
The delegation proceded to Linz
by train on Friday, March 25th, where a lecture was planned for
participants of a college course.
First programme: On the
upper Danube at the Snake Bend above Linz near Ohberndorf
Sunday,
March 27th: Event
on the Danube riverbanks
and on the Ship “Lilofee”
Title: TWO
RIVERS – ONE LIFE, from Danube
to Damodar. Eexcursion on water with ship “Lilofee” (www.resi.at-Schiffstaufe
). Water from the Damodar is given to the Danube,
water from the Danube
is taken for being given to Damodar. Press, TV and Public on the ship,
accompanied with music by Veronika and Franz Falkinger.Symbol: there are many
rivers but one water, there are many humans but one life….. Public event in the
marquee (tent) at the riverbank. Public Event for the support of the resistance
against open cast coal mining in the Karanpura
Valley
in Jharkhand. Philomina Tirkey and Elizabeth Bara will paint live for the
public. Bulu Imam informs about Karanpura
Valley
and resistence against mining. Option:
to initiate a partnership between the inhabitants of the Damodar dwellers and
the inhabitants of the Danube
dwellers. Inculturell exchange, meeting, alliance. Initiate public support for
planned FIAN campaign Kusum Tola/Karanpura.
Second programme: On the Damodar
river at Ramgarh
On 17 May the ceremony of pouring the
Danube water brought from the upper Danube at the Snake Bend upstream of Linz
near Ohberndorf in Austria was performed on the left bank of the Damodar at
Ramgarh. The day 17th April was chosen for this sacred event as it
was sacred to the Buddha which is marked on the full moon of mid-May called Buddh-Purnima. The group of us consisted
of Philomina, Elizabeth and Bulu, our eldest son Justin and his wife Alka, and
two women of our cooperative. The ceremony was a ritual one and a round wooden
plate was decorated with flowers (pagoda flower, goldmohur, marigold) , and
five lights in clay diyas in the middle of which was kept the ceramic
jar of water from the Danube. The jar had been made near the Danube in Ohberndorf by the brother of Elizabeth Koeltringer named Peter. It thus
had a special significance. The site chosen was beside a rocky bed where the
Damodar is deep and at its widest in Ramgarh a little to the east side of the
N.H.33 bridge between Ramgarh and Hazaribagh, and in view of the temple on the
opposite bank. The women read the prayer to the Damodar to receive the waters
brought from the Danube river in Austria by the women for immersion in the
Damodar. After this the water in the jar was poured in the Damodar waters. Then
in the traditional Indian custom the wooden plaque decorated with flowers on
which the jar of water had been kept was put in the river and floated
downstream.
Teaching Tree Hugging (Chipko) in Sumava Mountains, Czech Republic, 28th March, 2011
Convener was invited by Thomas
Engleder and Andreas Prammer (www.gruenesherz.boehmerwaldnatur.at)
to visit with Elizabeth Imam the Sumava National
Park in the Czech
Republic and
explain the significance of Chipko to
the members. Convener also spoke about the displacement to tribals and damage
to environment in the Karanpura region of upper Damodar valley in Jharkhand.
They visited the erstwhile Iron Curtain line along the border with Austria
and the Moldova
river.
Exhibition of paintings at Bad
Honnef (near Bonn), Germany
An exhibition of the Khovar and Sohrai paintings on paper (30”x22”) by TWAC (Tribal Women Artists Cooperatve) artists was organized at Bad Honnef (near Bonn) by FIAN –Austria. TWAC artists Philomina Tirkey and Elizabeth Bara painted a Sohrai mural of large size in the FIAN office in the presence of about seventy invited guests. The exhibition was followed by a talk on the art and the coal mining in the upper Damodar valley which is destroying the villages and natural environment of the region. The project was coordinated by Sabine Pabst, Mohan Damotheran, and Dr Pollyana Thomas of FIAN.
Exhibition at Milan
An
Exhibition of Khovar and Sohrai paintings was organized in Milan by Ms.Daniela Bezzi who also
organized the exhibition earlier at the ISIAO at Rome and who was also the organizer of
the mural painting and exhibition at Udine in 2008 in Italy and the exhibition at the Pigorini Museum in Rome that was four months..
Visit of Smt.Vimla Pradhan, State
Tourism Minister
Sanskriti
was visited on 8th Dec. by the State Tourism Minister Ms.Vimla
Pradhan, Secretary Tourism, Mrs.Sushila Kerketta, the Director tourism, Shri.Trepathy,
press and photographers. They were given a guided tour of the Sanskriti Museum
and Art Gallery
and the Sanskriti Office and Archives by Shri Bulu Imam and were very much
impressed by the tourist potential of the Hazaribagh rockart and Sohrai painting.Later
they were taken by Justin Imam to the tourist complex which he is building near
Bhelwara with the government. The Bhelwara village adjoining the complex is
famous for its Kurmi Sohrai wall paintings.
Dainik Jagran Award
for Convener
The
Governor of Jharkhand Dr.Syed Ahmed present the Convener with the award on 12th
February for his work in promoting Tribal Art and protecting environment. The
Award was given at a function in Ranchi.
Projected Art Project
A project
similar to the art programme in La Rochelle has been offered to the TWAC in
Aug.-Sept.2012 by the Reitberg Museum in Zurich, Switzerland. Three persons have been nominated
for the project. More details will be given in the next newsletter.
The
Gandhi International Peace Award 2011, UK
The Gandhi International Peace Award 2011 presentation to Dr.Binayak Sen
and Bulu Imam will be held at The House
of Lords on 12th June, 2012. The award is given for their
humanitarian work and practice of Non –violence. The award will be presented by
Lord Bikhu Parekh, President of the
Gandhi Foundation.
Tree Cutting Campaign
Down with trees. Let’s
build roads!
The National Highway Authority of India is on a rampage across
the country. Bulu Imam, Regional Convener, INTACH, who lives in Jharkhand and has been
protecting nature for decades wrote to Sanctuary asking us to help unite the
nation to resist the felling of lakhs of trees to make way for roads. A very
quick scan of pending projects threw up some really scary facts....
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Contact details: Bulu Imam, Convener INTACH, Hazaribagh Chapter
“Sanskriti”,
Dipugarha, P.O.Hazaribagh 825 301, Jharkhand, India, Tel: 06546-264820;
Fax: 06546-270815
Email: buluimam@gmail.com;
Website: www.sanskritihazaribagh.com
Campaign
website: www.karanpuracampaign.org
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