Time: 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
A panel discussion marking the opening of The Bird that Sings Within: An Exhibition of Textile by Ajit Kumar Das at Emami Art featuring experts and researchers from the various fields of textile. You are cordially invited to the bilingual discussion where the panellists talk about Ajit Kumar Das's decades-long practice and natural dyes, placing his work in the larger historical context.
PANELISTS:
Ajit Kumar Das (Artist)
Amrita Mukherji (President, SUTRA Textile Studies)
Bijan Behari Paul (Former director, Weaver Service Centre – Ministry of Textiles)
Darshan Shah (Director, Weavers Studio, and Founder Trustee, Weavers Studio Resource Centre)
Moderated by Somedutta Mallik (Curator and researcher)
This discussion will be in Bengali and English.
About the panellists
Ajit Kumar Das, born in 1957 in Tripura, is one of the finest artists working in natural dye. He came to West Bengal around 1972 and started his first job in a block printing unit in Serampore. In 1980, he joined the Weavers’ Service Centres (WSCs), where he worked as a master craftsman for many years in Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Kolkata, until his retirement from his service in 2017. He has been the subject of many solo exhibitions including The Cloth is Canvas at Eicher Art Gallery (New Delhi, 1997) and Colours of Nature at ICCR (Kolkata, 2014). His works are part of significant international collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Sarabhai Foundation, India; Crafts Museum, India; and the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada.
Amrita Mukherji is the President of SUTRA Textile Studies, who founded the not-for-profit society in 2002 with the objective of raising awareness of the textile heritage of India through seminars, exhibitions, workshops, demonstrations, publications and other means, to pave the way for further research and development of our textile traditions. Known as the pioneer revivalist of indigo in Bengal, Mukherji explored the craft and art of natural dyes, experimenting with indigo plantations in Santiniketan and successfully propagated it.
Bijan Behari Paul (also known as B. B. Paul) is the former director, Weavers’ Service Centre, office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India and is now a consultant at Taneira, Titan Company Limited. A weaver from West Bengal, Paul has been instrumental in developing quality parameters for handwoven and handcrafted textiles, reviving the cultivation of coloured cotton, and documenting tribal textiles in Tripura. He is associated with several institutions including NIFT, NID, Amity University, and Banasthali Vidyapith. Paul received the National Handloom Award in 1991.
Darshan Shah, Director, Weavers Studio, and Founder Trustee, Weavers Studio Resource Centre, established the Weavers Studio in 1993 as a textile company with the mission “to use as many hands as possible.” In 2007, Weavers Studio Resource Centre (WSRC) was set up with a library and an archival collection of textiles. Shah’s vision is to disseminate knowledge of the rich textile traditions of India across the world and to work with artisans at the grassroot level to create a platform for sustainable practices. Shah organized the exhibition Baluchari: Bengal and Beyond in Kolkata (2016) and New Delhi (2019) on the Baluchari traditions of Bengal.
Somedutta Mallik is a curator and researcher currently pursuing a PhD programme at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India. She received her post-graduation degree in Art History and Visual Studies from Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad (2017). Her research interest lies in the embodied knowledge of handloom weaving, the transmission of craft knowledge, and the role of sensory experiences and non-verbal communication in learning artisanal skills. She has curated several exhibitions for Dhi Artspace, Hyderabad.