The pandemic is finding eloquent expression in India's folk art traditions

Artist Gurupada Chitrakar’s visualisation of the coronavirus is a big-haired, wide-mouthed lively creature with its tongue sticking out. Alongside an arresting combination of turquoise and orange for his portrait of the virus, the National Award-winning pat painter and singer from Midnapur, West Bengal, presents this painting with a pater gaan (song of the pat). The song, recorded by his son on a camera phone, is available on Dastkari Haat Samiti’s Facebook page. It goes like this: Amra sabdhani obolombon korbo, virus ashte debo na (We will take precautions and we won’t let the virus come to us). His chorus continues with ashte debo na, won’t let it come to us.
 
In Puri, Odisha, Apinder Swain spends much of his time on the roof of his house drying and readying his cotton canvas. After the canvas is prepped and held together by glue extracted from tamarind seeds, he smoothes it with pebbles, before using white chalkstone as a base. For over 30 years, Swain’s pattachitra characters, supple-jointed men and women, with the occasional animal thrown in, have been central to his narratives. But now, it’s not the figures that document the times, but their unmistakably contemporary accoutrements: face masks.

Chhau masks by artists who work with Kalamandir

Swain’s protagonists can be seen doing yoga wearing masks, and sanitising their hands. In one recent work, Swain describes the daily life of a couple buying groceries. The story quickly escalates to a point where the husband dies of Covid-19 after he refused to heed his (masked) wife’s requests that he wear a mask too.

Repurposed Madhubani masks from MITHILAsmita

Contemporary works by folk artists are increasingly documenting the pandemic, relaying, through the songs of bards and works in colour, ways to keep oneself safe.
 
“I’ve been asking karigars (craftspeople) for a long time to think beyond themes of Ramayana and Mahabharata, beyond the grooves they’ve been set in. Now that’s finally happening,” says Jaya Jaitly, founder of Dastkari Haat Samiti. Another brave experimenter, she says, is Madhubani artist Ambika Devi. “She’s even done letters in Madhubani and she’s done it in English, not Devanagari, to internationalise her message,” says Jaitly. The plan has worked: customer enquiries are coming in from as far as London.

Folk artists have broken away from mythological themes from time to time. Gurupada Chitrakar’s body of work documents concerns as varied as tsunamis and communal riots. But tying different communities of folk artists together in their choice of theme is a virus that has upended the world.
 
A red dragon descending on the world, marking the origins of the virus from Wuhan, China, to its fiery breath halting planes and trains is just a tiny part of Anil Vangad’s elaborate documentation of the pandemic in Warli style. Despite running low on raw materials such as glue and fabric, Vangad, from Palghar, Maharashtra, has now fully developed narratives immortalised in Warli, documenting a life in lockdown.

Madhubani art on cotton masks from MITHILAsmita

Through conversations with his grandmother — she’s 102 — Vangad sees the pandemic as a call to adopt simpler ways of living, of leading quiet, healthy lives away from thoughtless urban chaos. His work celebrates this essential idea in acute detail. His drawings also highlight the impartiality of Covid-19. “It’s affected all countries, all classes of people and all religions. Science can continue to make progress but there are ideals of simple living that we should adhere to,” says Vangad.

Swain’s protagonists sanitising hands and doing yoga wearing masks

It’s not just the messaging that has changed. For many, it’s also the medium. For the Madhubani artists working with Delhi-based social enterprise MITHILAsmita, for instance, when the demand for Madhubani paintings dropped, they switched to making masks with Madhubani art to keep the funds flowing. The organisation’s founder Ihitashri Shandilya sent out videos in Maithili, English and Hindi on how to make masks. She is also working with craftspeople to diversify from the cotton masks and creating new products such as a mask of silk and khadi, with Madhubani work.

Anil Vangad’s recent Warli paintings depict life in the times of Covid-19

This April was meant to be a time for celebrations with masked Chhau dancers performing at fairs in eastern India. “Much of the work for these festivities had already been done. But now livelihood demands that these Chhau artisans adapt to making masks for Covid-19,” says Jamshedpur-based Amitava Ghosh. The former banker is founder-secretary of Kalamandir, an organisation that works with artisan communities, particularly Chhau artists.

Apindra Swain’s pattachitra works

The Chhau masks made for Covid-19 are nowhere near as elaborate as the full-face papier-mache ones used for traditional dances. “Nothing ever remains the same. Chhau costumes from 50 years ago aren’t the ones we see now,” says Ghosh. He is one among many now who call these folk art masks “culture masks”.

A Madhubani artist with cotton masks

The Chhau masks have been immensely popular, says Leenika Jacob of Gurugram-based Kala Chaupal Trust, which backs Shopchaupal.store. Platforms such as Dastkar, Dastkari Haat Samiti, Worldofmadhubani.in, Itokri.com and Artnher.com also sell masks and pandemic-related art. Prices vary according to the detailing, material and size. While Madhubani artist Remant Kumar Mishra’s art work costs Rs 3,000, masks by him are priced at Rs 35. Swain’s four-panel pattachitra is priced at Rs 6,500. Vangad’s intricate Warli documentation of a virus-crippled world costs Rs 55,000. Works of these artists can also be bought through the Dastkari Haat Samiti’s social media pages. Dastkar, which is currently accepting orders over social media, also expects to go live soon with its shopping platform Dastkar.org.
 
The only way for folk art to survive, Ghosh reminds us, is if it’s out in the world, being worn perhaps and enjoyed. Living artefacts rather than ossified ones in museums.