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From left to right
Mr. Ramesh Date, Mr. Kiran Gorwala, Mr Sanjay Parhad, Mr. siyaram Patwa,
Mr. Vivek Varun Prasad, Mr. Lavjibhai Vaghela, Mr. Quasim Ansari, Mr. Chetan Shet
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Mumbai: 17th February, 2018.
PUSHPA (Project for Upgradation of Skilled Handicrafts and
Perishing Art Forms) a Non-Profit Organisation spearheaded by Mr. Vivek Varun
Prasad, organised an exhibition of handicrafts made by artisans from various
places in rural India at the Campion School Cooperage from 17th to 19th of
February 2018.
The exhibition was a platform for artisans in rural India to
showcase their handicrafts, which have been their speciality handed down by
their forefathers and are now rapidly becoming a dying art form.
The whole concept of revival of such dying art-forms was
conceived by Mr. Vivek Varun Prasad, whose childhood passion is traditional art
in the form paintings or handicrafts. He is deeply pained to see that in the
industrialised world of today, these art forms are on the verge of becoming
extinct. Hence their revival and preservation are of great importance to as
they are expressions of culture of India.
This first exhibition by PUSHPA was a myriad display of
exquisite expressions of traditional crafts persons, displaying crafts as close
in purity to as they were conceived decades ago by their forefathers.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vivek Varun Prasad said “I
have had this passion for art since childhood and have won awards for 5
consecutive years in Doon School, Dehradoon. However, the passion had to be
kept in the background and was limited to making greeting cards for relatives
and friends, in order to give my full attention to my Government job in the
Income Tax department.
However, my passion was reignited after my retirement. I
have since then researched, contacted and visited various artisans from all
over the country and after curating their talent, I have invited some of them
to display their products at this exhibition, which I have organised with the
support of the Lalji Mehrotra Educational Trust, Mumbai, friends like Dr.
Borges and the Campion school, who have been kind enough to give this space.
The Khadi and Village Industries Board also assisted us in locating the artisans.”
“I am limited due to lack of resources and would be more
than willing to work with other organisations to pool our strengths and
resources for getting a better reach to all the artisans who are languishing in
rural India because of funds and lack of a platform.”
The Exhibition showcased Coconut and bamboo craft, Banarasi
weaves and Gujrati patolas, wooden carvings, warli paintings, traditional
artificial jewellery designed and made by hand.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Maulik a graphic designer and
working with NPO, PUSHPA, as project manager, said “PUSHPA was started in March
2017 with a vision to empower artisans to revive their art as it was decades
ago with purity of the raw materials. We would love to get some funds from the
CSR budgets of corporate houses. Our focus is on the ‘Artisans’ making them
grow self-sufficient and revive their art by showcasing it to the world.”
“We are working with technology and digital marketing
techniques including Facebook, WhatsApp etc. to spread the message - the write
ups and photos of the final work of the artisans.”
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Maulik further added that its a
challenging job to first identify and then meet the artisans and gain their
trust that this NPO, PUSHPA is actually helping them and not going to take
advantage out of them. We are a small
team, with shoestring budgets and limited resources and therefore looking
forward to getting some financial support from corporate houses in any
form-like providing resources or CSR funds or buying handicrafts for giving
away as gifts/ souvenirs, etc.”
The Exhibition comprised of 9 artisans who show cased their
art form such as Mr Sanjay Parhad from Dahanu, the warli artist, Mr. Ramesh
Date, craftsman working on bamboo and coconut shells, and seeds, another
artisan Mr. Chetan Shet from Kumta, Karnataka showcased Wood carvings, and Mr.
Kiran, Warli artist. Another artisan, Mr. Lavjibhai Vaghela was showcasing Silk
hand embroidered patola sarees and Mr. Vivek Varun Prasad also showcased his
creations of paintings of various Indian gods. Mr. Quasim Ansari from Banaras
showed a variety of weaves in cotton and silk, Mrs Seema Thakur showed a
variety of Maharashtrian jewellery, and Mr. Siyaram Patwa showcased Patwa art (
beads work ). '
The exhibition attracted a lot of visitors, who also
purchased many of the handicrafts and artisans were given to keep the entire
proceeds of the sales. The entire expenditure was borne by the NPO PUSHPA.
Encouraged by the success of this exhibition, Mr. Vivek
Varun Prasad has decided that he is going to try and hold it again next year in
a bigger form with more than double the artisans.
