Is Art the Answer to Social Change in India?
I recently returned to India after visiting 16 countries in the last 9 months for various film and photography projects. I was exhausted and overwhelmed from such a vast cultural exchange and, wondering what’s next!
It was a clear, sunny winter afternoon in Delhi when I met Rohit Tripathy for the first time. If his greying and wild hair, curious gait and enthusiastic eye didn’t make him stand out enough already, his super fast speech was more than sufficient to tell me I was speaking with a genius. In rapid-fire speech even faster than mine, we shot out ideas more quickly than our common friend who was standing by, could keep up with. There was a palpable chemistry in our connection. We both understood that we were fast thinkers and fast speech was the only way we could express ourselves lest one of us miss out on one of the many fleeting and exciting thoughts.
Suddenly Rohit said, “I have some walls for you in Ranchi. Get some artists together and breathe some art into them, fix it for me.” Two days later, I set out for the city previously known for its cool climate and now famous as home of one of India’s most successful cricket captains of all times, M.S. Dhoni. Rohit’s venture Ranchi Mall, after the successful launch of its ICO of Ranchi Mall tokens late last year was now ready to implement its philosophy in the field, Ranchi Mall L’Art Blockchain Contract is a reflection of Tripathy’s philosophy of creating value for its investors from across the globe. Ranchi Mall pledged support for this art initiative, which we named Arsande Art project after Tripathy’s home village where the pilot project will be launched in February 2018.
On my arrival in Ranchi to begin my research, I directly went to Arsande for a meeting with JT, a local resident. JT is a retired officer from the Coal India and a well-read, wise gentleman. JT’s zeal for life and wisdom from his experiences working below the ground for more than four decades underlined our conversations. I assumed the role of an active listener, all I had to do was ‘Pinch where it matters’ and JT poured out all the stories for which I was hungering.
We discussed various topics and discovered a common admiration for quite a few historical and political figures. By the end of the afternoon when it was time to go, the conversation moved around to the intentions of my visit to Arsande. With no time or effort, JT grasped the vision, the potential of bringing art to the walls of his village to improve its aesthetics and attract tourists. I was there to spark the momentum and he jumped in offering right away, “My walls are at your creative disposal and you have all my support to color the walls of my village.”
We came one step closer to realizing Tripathy’s wild idea!
The next challenge began calling out for my attention. What artists can I find? How can I find them? How can they be brought together for this endeavor?
Jharkhand is a recently formed state of India, known for its various tribes, each one having its own language, traditions and history. While tribal languages are passed from one generation to another without any formal education and lost written script, what has survived through the generations is their art.
Previously, the city and the region were part of the notorious state of Bihar, which was infamous for crime and social disorder. The locals told me that ever since the state of Jharkhand was carved out, with Ranchi as its capital, the crime rate was significantly decreasing and the social order is returning. Along with this, the locals are enjoying a renewed sense of pride and social belonging to their new state.
In this momentum of change, many people and artists have left the state in search of greener pastures, some never to return. My search led me to find many such artists, originally from Jharkhand now living and working across India as successful professionals.
My train of thought lead me to wonder whether Ranchi was a city without artists, a city without art, a city lacking in aesthetics, and perhaps, a city of people focused only on daily survival. Without art and its appreciation in the lives of its citizens, like so many other Indian cities, Ranchi runs the risk of becoming a city in disorder and chaos with visible sanitation problems. The chain of thought led me to wonder about the connection between all of these poignant observations and how they reflect an absence of art and beauty traditional to Hindu culture.
Finally, one of the artists answered my call. Things began looking up. Not only was he in Ranchi, but also he invited me to meet at a local fair that evening and attend an art exhibition. In enthusiasm, I reached well in advance and took the time to explore this oasis in the city.
A huge playground filled with stalls of crafts, food and artisanal swings sprawled before my eyes. Finally, in the far corner, I could see the familiar silhouette of an art exhibition. I wandered toward the exhibit initiated by a local artist called Ranjeet. Next to the art stall was a stage for live performances and a DJ. The DJ believed in maxing out the bass sound as his USP for business. His professionalism blasted the fragile cloth walls of the art exhibition to such an extent that the art on the walls seemed to be vibrating along with the music and the figures on the canvases, as if dancing!
A brief introduction to Ranjeet evoked his visible excitement to converse with me. In spite of his enthusiasm, every once in a while he had to wander off to check on the visitors and ask them not to touch the art or sit on the sculptors to take selfies. I grasped that it was not an appropriate time for us to connect and I departed as soon as he gave me the contacts of another gentleman who had initiated an endeavor to beautify the villages with tribal art. He lived 100 kms from Ranchi. Could he be the missing link I was looking for?
The other artists I had arranged to meet were an encouraging lot of youngsters proud to exhibit their work in this annual Ranchi fair. Unfortunately not one of them had ever done a wall mural before and I wondered if I could bet on them for our endeavor.
But what material would be the best adapted to Arsande L’Art project? My unsuccessful search for spray paints, in the sprawling markets of Ranchi turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Spray paints are the material of choice used to paint graffiti in the west. The challenge is that the rains are as strong in the monsoon as the sun’s intensity in the summer. Ordinary paint distemper could not hold the artwork for more than 6 months. This project seemed as challenging as planting trees in a desert and expecting them to give shape to a lush green forest, while there were no appropriate gardeners in the city nor the availability of the seeds.
Puzzle pieces often fall into place by themselves as soon as the first two right pieces are fit together. On my way to the famous Mohan’s Litti Chokha street food stall in Ranchi, Amit Topo, a driver from OLA cabs drove me through the narrow lanes of Ranchi to circumnavigate the traffic. Observing the unattended litter in the streets, he spoke about his history as a member of one of the tribes from where the state’s hero Birsa Munda was born. Birsa Munda had led a freedom struggle against the British and almost all the major landmarks in the state are named after him today. Amit was a lively and proud Jharkhandi, well-informed driver, part time video volunteer to bring about social change and a Christian in doubt. We agreed to go together to the tribal villages of Hazaribagh the next day. I was glad to have interesting company and he was curious to learn more about my intentions.
The next day we set out for a seemingly long drive. Our first stop was Mr. Justin’s house, headquarters of the Virasat Trust. Since 2008, Mr. Justin, along with his family, has been encouraging the tribal villages around the region to use their mud houses as art canvases in exchange for material incentives. Justin also used this opportunity to encourage eco and village tourism in these exotic villages of Jharkhand. Unfortunately Justin could not accompany us, as we had arrived unannounced. He gave Amit everything he needed to know to choose the best villages to visit.
An hour later and with much effort, without google maps or any visible signboards in the countryside, we arrived at our first tribal village, Daujinagar. The car stopped on the site of the first mud house with art on it and we both jumped out in excitement and walked towards the house. Playing children and elder villagers observed us with curiosity as Amit asked them if there were more houses around adorned with art. A tiny man pointed out that painted houses are common in their village.
We ventured around the corner to a house with large boldly coloured flowers painted on the walls. The art covered all the external walls of the mud house. Mutually admiring its beauty, we asked an elderly grandmother sitting in the field in front of the house who had done all the painting. She said, “me!” Surprised at her response, Amit re-confirmed twice and I further re-confirmed twice from him if this was true.
Savita Devi, the grandmother of the three boys who had appeared and were boisterously running around us, told us how she had painted her entire house. The natural colors she used would last a few years. We asked if she would be able to come up with more designs. Without hesitation she replied, “Many more.”
“If we give you a wall in Ranchi and some supplies, would you like to paint them?” I asked, hopeful. The answer was yes! We found our first gardener, a 60+ year old lady with seemingly inexhaustible creative force.
Our next stop was the village of Nano, an hour’s drive from Daujinagar. A small gathering of smiling villagers awaited us in this new village headed by a woman in her late 20s. All around the welcoming group, there were endless walls of art. Rohini Devi’s house was full of activity. A young man spoke on her behalf, telling us about the village and the art on the walls. As I listened, my eyes wandered to the other side of the village, where I could see the walls of a mud house adorned with white painted flowers that were notably subtler in form that the art on the rest of the houses.
We expressed curiosity about the house, so the villagers accompanied us to the neighboring village of Churchu to see the house up close. We saw exceptionally well-painted white flowers placed in a pattern on the wall with style and confidence. We enquired with the inhabitants of the house and disappointed to learn that the young girl who had painted the flowers was not home. Some elder ladies from the family appeared wearing traditional jewelry and posed for some photos in front of the house.
Evening was rapidly approaching and we decided to return to Ranchi, full of ideas, enthusiasm and plans. For the entire drive, we excitedly discussed the potential of bringing the local village artists to Ranchi. A friendship was clearly blooming between Amit, the OLA driver and myself around the common interest for art and culture.
In spite of the fruitful day, we sensed something was still missing. We needed an experienced hand to guide these artists to express their creativity without restraint while bringing visual and purposeful cohesiveness to the complete artwork to be done in Arsande village.
I contacted my friend Suresh K. Nair, a renowned artist and assistant professor from BHU, Varanasi. He had already made wall murals famous in 11 states in India and brought art to the Indo-Pak border wall. He showed immediate enthusiasm in the project and offered to oversee it. He offered to bring eight of his talented students to Ranchi for one week to paint the walls with his unique cemented style and collaborate with the village tribal artists and learn more from them in return.
In various countries around the world, art has been a successful tool for social change. Project Art in USA funded by Adarsh Alphons is one such project. With branches all over the USA, Project Art incites enthusiasm in local communities by offering free art classes to students. The once run down cities of Kiev and Berlin have also been revolutionized by street art encouraging the empty walls in the public view to be painted by their local artists. The once barren walls of these cities have been transformed and are now a strong asset to the cities in terms of raising the local morale and attracting tourists.
I feel encouraged here to share this medium article by the fellow member Amber C. Snider, who writes about the importance of Art for tourism destinations. https://medium.com/the-omnivore/the-importance-of-art-for-tourism-destinations-41ae37d746c
Finally, all the pieces starting falling into place and the puzzle has started to look like a wonderful picture about to unfold. An exciting week is in store for Ranchi as its finest gardeners get together at the end of February to paint the walls of Arsande; announcing the birth of Arsande L’Art project supported by Ranchi Mall l’Art blockchain contract.
