Daricha Foundation is a Kolkata based NGO. Though our primary objective is to document and create awareness of West Bengal`s intangible folk heritage through our website www.daricha.org, we have also been directly engaging with talented but marginalized women from the Santal community in West Bengal, who struggle to sustain themselves.
Sohrai Paintings
It has been widely promoted that Sohrai paintings belong only to Jharkhand. This is a misconception. Sohrai is the name of a harvest festival celebrated by numerous tribal communities in eastern India. And traditionally, the women paint their walls to celebrate this festival. Styles and motifs vary from community to community.
In Purulia, West Bengal, a particular kind of Sohrai Wall Art, practised by Santal women in specific pockets of the region, is sheer poetry to behold. These are beautiful monochromatic compositions. Sadly, this tradition is dying.
Have a look at their traditional Sohrai Likhan , which is what they call their wall art.
However, there are still a few women scattered around Purulia who are determined to continue their tradition. But for how long? This is where we stepped in. Having documented their mud walls for many years and dismayed at its decline, we suggested that to preserve their beautiful traditional motifs and compositions at least, they adapt their art to paper. And so, they did. Facilitated and encouraged by us at every step, the stunning paintings on display here are proof of their conscious resolve.
Used to painting on the large canvasses of the mud walls of their homes, they felt restricted at first, but worked hard to translate their art on paper. They had to change their technique and use brushes instead of their nimble fingers. In developing this new avatar, they also added to their monochromatic palette of clay and cowdung, experimenting with colours extracted from stones, leaves, indigo and lampsoot.
Srabani Baskey is a graduate, while Badani Murmu and Parboti Murmu have never been to school. Badani is a daily wager, Srabani collects Sal leaves from the forest nearby to stitch into leaf plates, while Parboti herds her six cows and a goat, morning and evening. But all of them retain the traditional skills passed down generations of women.
After a successful display in Mumbai recently, their creativity and confidence have soared. We hope that you will love these paintings too and help to empower these women.
Sohrai Paintings - from mud walls to urban spaces - a quick look at the process on our Instagram page.
Natural Fibre Ornaments
The ornaments that you see at this exhibition have all been cleverly crafted from the leaves and fibres of the palm tree, along with wild seeds and wooden beads. Using traditional basketry techniques on spliced palm leaves and laboriously extracted palmyra bark fibre, the artisans meticulously plait, weave, or coil these fibres to create delicate ear rings, bangles and necklaces.
Today, the craft continues to be practiced by just a few Santal families in West Bengal, using a variety of leaves and grass. Daricha Foundation has been working with a small group of these artists, chiefly women and has helped upskill them. Daricha has also trained women, new to the craft, in Purulia. The range of designs that the artists now create is exceptional indeed.
Though this is not a traditional folk craft, but an extension of it, each finished piece of such jewellery is a work of art, and is the product of meticulous work by dexterous fingers in tandem with hard work, dedication, love and sheer artistry.
The artists whose work is presented here are Chhobi Besra, Bijoli Mandi, Poulina Mandi, Tuhina Mandi, Sonamoni Mandi, Kunami Mandi and Lokkhi.