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Reading the cultural fabric
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Textiles tell tales of entire civilisations, says art historian Cristin R. McKnight
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WEAVING TRADITIONS `Textiles never lose their human component' Photo: K. Gopinathan
Wear your attitude, urges an ad for a brand of clothing. We do wear our attitudes and much more all the time, whether or not we toe the ad line, Cristin R. McKnight would say.
The art historian and curator from Los Angeles believes that clothes reveal much more than we give them credit for. "Human relationships, personal and social histories, religion, ritual, culture, techniques of an art form, details of everyday living... They're all embedded in textiles." This intrinsic bond between the object and the human experience exists in all art, she concedes. But that textiles are never finished products ready to be put on the wall, but are things that cling closest to bodies and continues their journey, make them reflections of the human experience in an even "more potent, urgent way." It is this "human component that's never lost" that has always drawn Cristin to the study of textiles.
To Kalahasti
But what drew her to Kalamkari was a scarf presented by an Indian friend. The beautiful piece of cloth set her seeking its background and what unfolded was a fascinating history. It was fascinating enough to bring her all the way to Sri Kalahasti in Andhra Pradesh to study the art, the artists, the patrons and the intricate web of relationships that bind them, on a nine-month research, funded by a Fulbright Scholarship.
Cristin tells you that Kalamkari has a long history of flourishing trade that put the Indian textiles on the global map way back in the 16th Century. The textiles from the Coramandel coast went to Middle East and distant European nations before Industrial Revolution put a abrupt stop to it in the 19th Century. The Kalamkari art from Sri Kalahasti in particular had a slightly different trajectory because the temple there was the chief patron of the art. The artists drew their themes from Hindu epics and made panels for the temple walls. The panels had a narrative thread and were never meant to be worn as clothing. "Kalamkari is also fascinating because it straddles two worlds, of fine art and folk art," says Cristin.
The relationship between the art and the patron and the subtle ways in which a patron even guides the way an art is defined is Cristin's particular area of interest. Post-Independence, When Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya visited the region to revive this form, she could trace only two Kalamkari artistes. She started a training centre at Sri Kalahasti in 1957. The missionary zeal about reviving a dying, traditional art that came with Kamaladevi subtly altered the contours of this ancient art yet again.
When you buy a traditional craft today, it's not just a "benign purchase", but one that carries with it notions of "helping and doing good to an artist community". But this attitude of "charity" can't be particularly flattering to an artiste, isn't it? Cristin says that it's difficult to expect a single answer to this question from the artists. Kalamkari artists don't make up one composite community as we might imagine. It encompasses divergent communities (Balijas, Reddy, and so on) and economic classes. "It's rooted and yet not rooted in a singular tradition." But many of them, she points out, would like to use this attitude as a marketing tool.
The intervention of facilitators and designers in the lives of the artists is an equally tricky issue. Though there was some initial resistance to an outsider saying "put this motif on the pallu" or "alter this motif in this way", they have turned more accepting over a period of time. "Artistes have now themselves started playing with ideas," observes Cristin. "It's a new market and there are new consumer demands. It's inevitable." An ideal situation, though, would be when artists entirely take on the roles of facilitators and designers.
As one reads the art of Kalamkari through these historical upheavals, one fundamental question crops up: what is "authentic" Kalamkari? Does the core of the art lie in the use of the kalam (pen)? In the use of completely natural dyes? Or in the epic narrative structure? It is, of course, impossible to fix the form in a particular format, as it constantly evolves. Cristin says that a modern painter she met in Andhra, who paints Kalamkari motifs on canvas using acrylic colours, also likes to identify himself as a Kalamkari artist, though traditionalists might have their share of quarrels with him.
Even as these theoretical issues remain fluid, there are other more concrete and urgent concerns to be handled. For instance, of shrinking sources of running water, crucial to the dyeing process in Kalamkari. "The mineral content in the river water creates bright shades and with these sources dwindling, an artist may end up with a pale pink instead of a deep maroon," says Cristin. "That's sad. No government funding or patronage is going to change that."
On show
You can get a glimpse of Cristin's engagement with the intriguing web of relationships that shape the art of Kalamkari at Tradition In Use, an exhibition that will be inaugurated at 10.30 a.m. today at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat. The show will have on display quotes from her interviews with patrons and artists transcribed on cloth by a Kalamkari artist, video clips and still photographs.
There is also a section that displays Kalamkari works of different styles. "Yes, including the works of the modern painter," says Cristin.
The show concludes on May 10.
Cristin can be contacted on cristinmcknight@yahoo.com.
This columns features people who pursue their beliefs.
BAGESHREE S.
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