Keeping the arts alive

It is Champabai’s first ever visit to Mumbai and the awaiting adventure only excites her. Belonging to the remote village of Puhputra in Chhattisgarh, Champabai creates art for the Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum in Bhopal. She concentrates on a simple yet ancient art of Bheentichitra and approaches her art like a sacred entity. “This is our parampara — we have been doing this for centuries,” she says.

Drawing sort of a timeline for us, she says, “We use Shankar mitti to make these structures. This mitti is our local clay that is easily available throughout Madhya Pradesh. We build a 3D structure that is held in place with wires and jute threads inside. Once this structure is developed, we make small figurines such as birds, flowers and leaves on it. These figurines are made with a mixture of Shankar mitti and tamarind seed powder,” she explains. Once these structures are ready, they usually take a day to dry and can be painted on the next day.

However, there are some limitations to these in Mumbai. Champabai explains, “Now because we will be coming to Mumbai, Shankar mitti won’t be available there and so, we have to make do with multani mitti.”

Bheentichitra develops from a post harvest tradition of decorating whitewashed walls with godna or ancient tattoo designs. With passing time, these walls transformed into storybooks and the designs on the walls into colourful stories. These designs come in form of painted folk tales, quirky jalis (window lattices) that shaped with clay dolls, monkeys and birds.

While Champabai has difficult in understanding your urban Hindi, her eyes light up at even the slightest curiosity about the art. “I’m imparting a part of my tradition to you — it always feels good,” she smiles.

On January 28 and 29, 11 am to 4 pm, at Title Waves, Bandra (W).
Contact 26510841
Fees: Rs 2,700