Dastkari Haat Samiti, Jaya Jaitly, Om Birla, Lok Sabha, parliament building, Indian express news, current affairs
Jaya Jaitly, president-founder of Dastkari Haat Samiti
New Delhi : SAYING THAT the 400-odd artisans who created a set of art installations for one of the galleries in the new Parliament building have not been able to view their works, Jaya Jaitly, president-founder of Dastkari Haat Samiti, has sought Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s intervention. Besides seeking permission for these craftspeople, Jaitly has also suggested that guided tours could be arranged for the public, in small groups, when Parliament is not in session.
Shilp Gallery in the new Parliament building has eight installations by these craftspeople. Over a year after the new Parliament building was inaugurated, these artisans have not been able to visit the gallery despite several requests, said sources.
In a letter to Birla dated August 27, Jaitly, who brought these artisans together for the project, sought permission for them to be allowed inside the gallery, in small groups if needed, when the House is not in session.
Sources confirmed that the Speaker’s office has received her letter.
Saying that the Dastkari Haat Samiti was commissioned “thework of enriching the Shilp Deergha for the new Parliament by the Ministry of Culture through the IGNCA”, Jaitly wrote that the craftspeople associated with the organisation “are extremely proud they are represented so strongly in such an esteemed institution”.
However, while they were earlier “told that some arrangements will be made in the future to have public viewings”, she wrote, “even I have not been allowed to take a professional photographer to take pictures of our fully finalised gallery although we had created and mounted all the artworks”.
“All the participating creative communities have been very eager for the artworks in Parliament to be seen by the general public of India who are represented inside Parliament. Even the makers of these works are not able to see the results of their exercise,” she wrote.
“As the president of the Dastkari Haat Samiti and creator of all the art installations at the Shilp Deergha in the new Parliament, and on behalf of all the participating karigars, I am very pleased to offer you our booklet detailing all the works in the gallery. We hope you will appreciate the high level of skill shown by our craftspeople who created works according to our themes and guidance,” Jaitly wrote.
“Recently, we noticed on social media that some ladies’ groups were taken around by a person claiming to be the curator. Many different artists and entities worked on the art and craft works. There was no single curator, and no one who could explain the meanings and special features of all the artworks. Many people have also complained that viewing of artworks is not easily permitted, if at all, unless someone has influence,” Jaitly said in her letter.
Requesting the Speaker “to consider the possibility of arranging carefully guided, informative tours for viewing the unique artworks and gallery spaces in the new Parliament, only when Parliament is not in session,” she proposed that “groups in well-controlled and limited batches of 20 persons, accompanied by a trained guide”, could be considered.
Shilp Gallery is one of three galleries dedicated to the arts in the new Parliament building. The others are the Sangeet Gallery for dance and music traditions of India, and the Sthapatya Gallery, dedicated to the country’s architectural heritage.
For the Shilp Gallery, about 400 artisans, specialising in diverse craft traditions, were roped in from across the country — from Srinagar to Aligarh, Kutch to East Midnapore — to create the installations under themes assigned by the Ministry of Culture like gyan (knowledge), prakriti (nature), aastha (faith), ullas (happiness), parv (celebration), swavlamban (self-reliance) and yatra (journey).
From using traditional forms of storytelling like the kavad to showcase the country’s festivals, or calligraphy to present the different scripts of India through poems and shlokas, the gallery is a rich layering of India’s numerous crafts.
(Courtesy : The Indian Express)
