Ministry of Culture
FOLK ARTISTS FROM WEST MIDNAPORE COME FORWARD TO SPREAD AWARENESS ON CORONA ALONG WITH IIT KHARAGPUR WITH SONG & ART
Posted On: 19 MAR 2021 9:05PM
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*Srijata Saha Sahoo
Several makes an attempt have been constructed from the Government stage, docs, scientists to frequent folks to boost consciousness on Corona and its deadly energy. In that transfer, the efforts of folks artists of West Bengal must be added additionally as just lately, IIT Kharagpur has tied up with patuas of Naya village to unfold consciousness on Corona by means of the medium of scroll artwork together with songs. The institute underneath the challenge ‘Folk Artists in the Time of Coronavirus’ has taken a novel effort of improvising well being communication to a big catchment of the agricultural inhabitants. Prof. Anjali Gera Roy, from the Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, engaged with folks artists (Patua) from the Naya village in West Midnapore to carry COVID-19 consciousness outreach initiative communicated by means of visible and musical artwork types.
The custom of making public consciousness programmes began among the many Naya Patuas 20 years again with a bunch of ladies led by Rani Chitrakar acting on the HIV AIDS challenge. Prof. Anjali Gera Roy, who has been working with this neighborhood, approached a bunch of Patuas from Naya to create scroll work and songs solely to advertise hygiene habits among the many native folks round Kharagpur. While the Institute has been organizing reduction camps for the distribution of important gadgets to the underprivileged neighborhood, a number of of the reduction recipients had been noticed to be nonchalant almost about hygiene habits comparable to sporting masks or sustaining social distance regardless of the Institute repeatedly urging the folks to comply with the well being protocols.
Painters like Gurupada Chitrakar, Bahadur Chitrakar, Swarna Chitrakar, Jaba Chitrakar and Sonali Chitrakar composed their songs in native dialects together with scroll work in folks artwork format to assist the viewers perceive the challenges of COVID-19 and greatest practices to be adhered to. This mode of communication makes scientific info palatable and cognizable to folks of assorted sections of the society, particularly within the space of well being. The menace notion, precaution and treatments, when communicated in a language hued in cultural connotations, and coming from their social friends, is simpler for the native folks to attach with and efficacious of their public compliance.
The first efficiency was organised on the entry gate of the IIT Kharagpur campus. As the reduction recipients queued outdoors the IIT gate, a Patua group from Naya engaged them in an interactive session about COVID-19. They adopted it with a efficiency of songs to pats or scrolls created by the Patuas on the theme. The painters put significance on dwelling warnings about not following lockdown guidelines and different directions by means of their footage and songs and exhorted the onlookers to struggle collectively to defeat the virus.
As Prof. Anjali Gera Roy remarked, “This form of communication to the underprivileged community has been a tradition and has proven to be effective for ages. We are mulling over organizing more such performances for various sections of the society.”
And Gurupada Chitrakar, a Patua performer places it as, “We find the medium of songs and pictures more effective than words. When we came to IIT Kharagpur and stood in a line arranging our pats, people began to wonder what on earth they were going to do? But when we started singing, gradually people listened carefully and wanted to see the pictures and listen to the songs. Those standing in the queue began to pay attention to whether they were standing too close or lowering their masks even though they know about COVID already.”
It is to be talked about that just lately, IIT Kharagpur performed a joint exhibition with Gurudev Tagore Indian Cultural Centre (GTICC) Indian Council For Cultural Relations, India In Mexico (Embassy of India, Mexico City) and Ora World Mandala to current an internet workshop and symposium titled “Life on Scroll: Lockdown Creativity” by scroll painters and folks artists of India and Mexico. The spotlight of this exhibition was a visible illustration of COVID-19 in Patua artwork, brief movies on Amate and Huichol artwork and interactions of the Patuas from Naya with the Amate artists and Huichol/Textile painters from Mexico.
Let us hope that the novel efforts of those folks artists pay correct dividends in rising the notice on Corona and finally assist India to fully get better from this lethal menace.
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SSS
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