The India Art Fair 2023 will consist of the following.

India Art Fair director Jaya Asokan gives a sneak preview of what to expect when it debuts in February.

Swati Bhat

Play Area, 2018, Dia Mehhta Bhupal, diasec print.Galleryske

Right now. In a brand-new world that has been altered by the epidemic, where we are more aware of the role that creativity and art can play in fostering empathy, fostering cross-cultural connections, and advancing a community. We want India Art Fair to be a gathering place for artists and non-artists alike in the upcoming year and to be an inclusive venue in the purest meaning of the word.

In order to keep loyal to our aim of delivering the best contemporary art from South Asia and India in one location, we have pooled our collective knowledge from the last several years for this edition. A gifted Warli artist duo, the Vayeda Brothers, who add a modern perspective to the traditional art form from Maharashtra, will turn the fair facade into a "Forest of the Future" to make space for traditional art forms of South Asia.

Debashish Paul and Lakshmi Madhavan, two of our other artists in residence, will demonstrate innovative ideas. While Paul will explore his gay identity through a performance art piece, Madhavan's commitment to community will be evident in her exhibit of vibrant white and gold kasavu fabrics created in partnership with the rapidly disappearing Balarampuram weavers in Kerala.

I have a lot of enthusiasm for some of our artistic endeavours. My favourites are a monumental sculpture resembling a pelvic bone by Prashant Pandey that alludes to the wonderful moment of the birt, Parag Tandel's thought-provoking sculpture installation, an eight-foot-tall, twisted fibreglass scale by Shivani Agarwal that invites viewers to measure the intangible, such as emotions of love, joy, intimacy, and truth, and Shivani Agarwal's surreal scale.

#thecommunique #tcn #tc #art #event #TIAF2023

How "Women Talking" costume maker Quita Alfred Obtained Clothing From a Mennonite Community

Quita Alfred, a costume designer, grew raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and always felt a connection to the Mennonite community there. Alfred views the conversation she had with "Women Talking" director Sarah Polley as being "very serendipitous."

Swati Bhat

Credit: ©Orion Pictures Corp/Courtesy Everett Collection

I'm in the Mennonite [community] of North America, and if I can get a jump on this before we start prep, I'm likely to be able to find practically everything that we need, Alfred recalled telling Polley.

Alfred first had a meeting with Marianne Hildebrand, a prominent but non-conformist Mennonite living in nearby Winkler. There, in the heart of Mennonite territory, Alfred had access to local shops where he could buy clothes and accessories. “We always joke in the movies, ‘Oh, I’ll just run to the pirate shop for you!’” she laughs. “But in this case, there were a number of times I actually did go to the Mennonite shop and buy prayer coverings, or the real fabric that the real women in more traditional colonies use.”

Alfred started organising the families into colour schemes and patterns once she had gathered a collection of garments and textiles. As intelligent characters, Alfred envisioned the Friesens—played by Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, and Emily Mitchell—in blues and purples .“I always use the word ‘electric colors,’” she explains, and “small, repeating patterns.”

Alfred perceived the Loewens, which included Jessie Buckley, as intuitive and said that they were "more feeling than intellect." She "chose swirly designs and natural colours - greens and browns and flowing shapes" for their family. Alfred goes on to say about Buckley's clothing, "It nearly looks like murky water. like tumultuous water. Jessie immediately replied to it. With the Loewen women, there is something hidden.

Alfred used dark red and black to represent the Janz family, and especially Frances McDormand's 'Scarface' Janz, "because they were so rigid and so conventional and so immovable in their convictions and their values."

The gowns are "a lot more intricate than they look," according to Alfred, so making them proved to be a fun task. The costume team worked on pleating and other intricate tasks for hours. Each dress has a bib over the top that snaps on the left shoulder as well as an underbodice. She argues that the garments are designed to "negate the wearer." They are designed to serve as a reminder of their inferior status to both God and the male members of their family. To keep the women covered and modest, the dresses are also modest in style and design.

Alfred discovered from her research that over the course of 500 years, Mennonite custom and travel had embraced a variety of designs and patterns. Puffed sleeves date back to their early Dutch origins. They introduced floral designs as soon as they arrived in Prussia, Poland. They incorporated vivid colours into their prayer cloths, absorbing them from Russia and Ukraine. They have persisted with them, she claims, "because they are a culture that is so wedded to its history and bound to tradition."

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Second Phase of Sari Festival “VIRAASAT”- Celebrating 75 handwoven Saris of India begins today

New Delhi [India], 3 Jan: The second phase of the Sari Festival "VIRAASAT" will take place from the 3rd to the 17th of January 2023 at Handloom Haat, Janpath, New Delhi.

Smt.Sitharaman at the festival

The festival, which runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., is organised by the Ministry of Textiles.

The second phase, with 90 participants from across the country, adds to the excitement by featuring famous handcrafted varieties of Saris such as Tie and Dye, Chikan embroidered Saris, Hand Block Saris, Kalamkari printed Saris, Ajrakh, Kantha, and Phulkari. These will be in addition to Jamdani, Ikat, Pochampally, Banaras Brocade, Tussar Silk (Champa), Baluchari, Bhagalpuri Sik, Tangail, Chanderi, Lalitpuri, Patola, Paithani, and other exclusive handloom Saris. Handloom Saris such as Tanchoi, Jangla, Kota Doria, Cutwork, Maheshwari, Bhujodi, Santipuri, Bomkai, and several other varieties such as Garad Korial, Khandua, and Arni Silk Saris will also be available.

The first phase of “VIRAASAT”- Celebrating 75 handwoven Saris of India started on 16th December 2022 and concluded on 30th December 2022. The event was inaugurated by Hon’ble Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 16th December 2022, along with Hon’ble Minister of State Smt. Darshana Jardosh and other women parliamentarians.

In the 1st Phase from 16th to 30th December 2022, 70 Participants took part in “VIRAASAT” event. A wide publicity program was taken up to advertise this event through Print Media by Newspapers, Posters, invitation cards Social Media, Cultural Program and Designers Workshop etc. The event has been a big hit, and along with impressive footfalls across age-groups, brought much needed attention to the sector and sales of handloom goods for the weavers.

A social media campaign has been launched under a common hashtag #MySariMyPride to support our handloom weavers. ­­­­­Coinciding with the 75 years of Independence, “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” there will be an exhibition-cum-sale of Handloom Saris by 75 handloom weavers. A series of activities are planned to for the visiting public such as:

• Viraasat-Celebrating the heritage: Curated display of handloom saris.

• Viraasat-Ek Dharohar: Direct retail of saris by weavers

• Viraasat Ke Dhage: Live loom demonstration

• Viraasat–kal se kal tak : Workshops and talks on sari and sustainability

• Viraasat–Nritya Sanskriti: Famous Folk dances of Indian culture

The exhibition will be open to public from 11 am to 8 pm. Handloom saris drawn from some of the exotic locations of India are on display and sale at the exhibition.

The event is likely to bring renewed focus on the age-old tradition of Sari weaving and thereby improve earnings of the handloom community.

Handloom sector is a symbol of our country’s rich and varied cultural heritage, besides being one of the key sectors providing employment to a large number of people, especially women. The event celebrates both the tradition as well as potential of the Handloom Sector in its full strength.

Have glimpse here:

#thecommunique #tc #tcn #viraasat #event #sari #MySariMyPride #lifestyle