Unsung daughters find place in art history

KOLKATA: For the last 17 years, Joba Chitrakar, patachitra artist and singer, has been expressing her thoughts through this creative medium along with her husband, Montu. Joba has not restricted her scroll painting to stories and songs from the mythology, but ventured into the
unexplored areas of real incidents. Starting from the Bengal floods to 9/11 and the Gujarat riots, they all feature in her work.Still she could not reach out to a wider audience till a chance meeting with art historian and cultural anthropologist Stephen Huyler changed her way of thinking. Joba has been featured in his latest book, Daughters of India.
In her pre-teens, Joba's daughter Sonia is equally talented and has created patachitra on Nandigram and Singur. "I have been coming to India for the last 37 years and experienced the Indian way of life. I wanted to perceive the Indian life and society as they are and different from the characteristic Western perspective of brutality. This book is different from my previous books on India. I chose 20 Indian women, who refused to be victimized by circumstances and brought about change through their creativity. Joba and Sonia featured in my book as part of Minhazz Majumdar's story. Minhazz has been helping them to showcase their art at better platforms," said Stephen.
When Stephen met Sonia, he was fascinated with the way the girl had picked up the patachitra, which inspired him to write a book on her, due to be published next year.
"It's difficult to draw and then compose a song on it, but I love it. There is a message in each of them that violence does not take us anywhere. The message of love and tolerance needs to be spread," said Sonia, speaking relentlessly about her work.
"We did this as part of our family tradition. But the next generation is smarter and they have already picked up well from us," said Joba, currently working on 26/11.
Shyamali Khastagir, activist and artiste, also features in Stephen's book. Her art works are on cotton. She has used her creativity to protest environmental problems and create awareness on the same. Born and brought up in Santiniketan, Shyamali has been compassionate about environment right from her early days.
"India has changed from a considerable rural population to a largely expanding middle class. Women have also become more expressive and use creativity at various levels to achieve goals. This could also be the reason for them facing a backlash because of the patriarchal structure. I speak about these lesser known women, who have made a difference through creativity," said Stephen.