Collaborative workshop in Bolpur Santiniketan
Pearson Pally Santhal village. initiated by Manju Rajak. 2012 Santhal tribes are the third largest tribes of India. This tribe habitation is mainly in the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and Assam. They belong to the Pre- Aryan period and were the great fighters during the British regime in India. Santhali culture is depicted in the paintings and artworks in the walls of their houses. Local mythology includes the stories of the Santhal ancestors Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Bhudi. The Santhals mainly prefer group performance than solo, which is an important feature of tribal art form in India. Group dancing and singing is the most important medium to express their joy and happiness. The Santhali dance and music is tuned with the nature of occasion whether it is social or ceremonial. Rabindranath Tagore initiated Santiniketan Ashram Community as a rival of ancient traditions of Indian Mainstream and Indigenous cultures where modern systems of knowledge and nature can interlink with each other. Santiniketan is surrounding with many Santhal Villages which has left a deep impression on the life and culture of Santiniketan Ashram. The life, ritual, culture and landscape of Santhal villages became a great inspiration of the artistic practices of Santiniketan. ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP - This workshop was a seven days workshop with the children of the Pearson Pally Santhal village. The main concern of the workshop was the socio cultural, anthropological and geographical situation where the Santhal people live and how their children observe the life attitude in the surrounding they live in. Child’s psychological behavior and observation of day to day life experiences was the most important aspect for this workshop. The day to day process of learning, sharing the experiences in a intuitive way with each other, writing poems, understand their individual choices on like and dislike and how they understand the surrounding atmosphere they live in. Children drew their village landscape, architecture pattern, some poems, folk motifs and the daily life of the villagers through the lenses of their infant eyes. Within this one week workshop they express through the process of collage on cloth and observed the surrounding behavior of Santhal life and culture of their daily habits. They have expressed their colorful thought over the surface of the flower petal shaped cloths. All the petals were arranged together to create a blossoming flower. |