Kalamkari artwork of Saraswati Devi- a personal perspective
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| My version of the Goddess Saraswati (above) is a mixed media study using pen-and-ink, acrylics and watercolours |
I have two main reasons for this post.
1. The first is a personal one – when my brothers and I entered primary school, in turn, my mum taught each of us the same prayer to “Our Lady of Good Studies,” asking her to guide us to learn well. There is no “Our Lady of Good Studies”. Given our family history, the most probable explanation is a devotion to the Hindu Goddess Saraswati (the Hindu goddess of learning and wisdom), which persisted in disguise, unquestioned, almost 600 years after the family’s conversion to Catholicism. This sparked my interest in trying to uncover what is lost, modified and what remains lurking in plain sight, when we ostensibly change identities.
2. The second one is an off-shoot of my interest in art history - relating to how “value” in art is decided. Why is this important? Images are used to exert soft power. They act at a subconscious level, influencing and categorizing us. Economically-dominant powers set the agenda on how soft power is exercised. As economic dominance shifts, what is considered “high art” is relegated to the realm of “folk art”.
There is a growing consensus among art historians that our current understandings of art – how we evaluate and judge it – are based mainly on European and North American ideas that developed from the Renaissance onwards. Standards of beauty, the symbolism and stories inherent in non-European art have not been adequately understood or represented and despite their diversity, are categorized as “folk art”. Kalamkari art is an interesting example of what happened to an art form which developed outside Europe when its patrons and benefactors lost power.
Kalamkari
Kalamkari is currently practiced in Andhra Pradesh, India and is considered (even by its practitioners) to be a folk art. This art is made using bamboo and tamarind nib pens and organic dyes. There are 23 steps in the process used to produce a single piece of work.
Current thinking suggests that Kalamkari is an evolution and synthesis of art techniques, styles and motifs which originated more than 5,000 years ago – samples of which have been found in archaeological excavations at Mohenjodaro and date back to 3,000 BC.[1]
Today there are two forms of Kalamkari .
One is the Srikalahasti form which was practiced by traditional folk singers who moved from village to village using Kalamkari hangings to illustrate their stories from Hindu epics. It is a traditional folk art.
The second form is the Machilipatnam style which was promoted by the Mughals, and was influenced by the art of the Persian - Safavid empire which existed in what is now Iran. The Machilipatnam style flourished under the Muslim rulers (nizams) of Golconda, in Hyderabad India and under their rule (and Mughal rule) was considered to be a “high art”, but has lost classification status and became a “folk art” when these empires ended.
A brief background on the Goddess Saraswati
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