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New Delhi: Women are
the new driving force behind the colourful and rich South Asian
crafts traditions. The power of women unfolded at the Dilli Haat,
the capital's ethnic mart, Thursday when 70 women artisans from
seven South Asian nations unveiled their wares at the 24th annual
Crafts Mela of the Dastkari Haat Samiti, a handicrafts promotion
forum.
The two-week showcase, "Crafting Friendships", has brought ethnic
handicrafts from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka while nearly 190 craftspeople from across
India are also displaying their traditional products at the fair.
Up for sale are an array of embroidery traditions, apparel,
fashion and lifestyle accessories, home decor, wood and metal
craft.
The Dastkari Haat Samiti, an initiative by politician and crafts
activist Jaya Jaitly, who was instrumental in setting up the Dilli
Haat in 1994, has been engaging with south Asian women to promote
regional crafts and forge linkages for revival and strengthening
of the largely un-organised sector since 2004.
The fair is supported by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations
(ICCR) and the Jamia Millia Islamia.
"The focus of the fair in 2011 is to understand crafts and create
new friendships through crafts. Women in South Asia have a major
role to play in the development of the region, promotion of peace
and to help stop violence. They will spend two weeks together to
understand diverse regional skills and identify marketing avenues
- building solid linkages in the process," Jaitly told IANS.
"This is a sector which is still largely decentralised. In India,
there is a will on the part of the government to encourage crafts,
but the way to about it is too rigid. The government does not want
to know the heart and soul of the sector," she said.
"I wish the Indian crafts could see some of the boom in Indian art
industry. The craftspeople in the country should be given due
recognition both in the Indian market and abroad," veteran crafts
activist Laila Tyabji, who manages the Dastkar Nature Bazaar, told
IANS.
Inaugurating the fair, ICCR president Karan Singh said the "21st
century belonged to women". When women do something together, it
yields productive results, he added.
Mina Sherzoy, the head of the delegation of craftswomen from
Afghanistan, voiced the concerns of women artisans in her country.
"Handicrafts is still in a revival state in the country after the
war. Unfortunately, the war has done so much of damage that
handicrafts are the last thing on the government's agenda. The
country needs so much help. Fifty percent of the Afghanistan are
women and 90 percent of the population is illiterate. The
government does not realise that without reviving handicrafts, one
cannot revive Afghanistan," Sherzoy told IANS.
A California-based Afghan arts promoter and heritage textile
conservationist, Sherzoy is trying to contemporise vintage Afghan
clothes.
Rural women artisans in Pakistan are finding a ready market across
the country and even abroad, thanks to the efforts of several
women-oriented non-profit organisations, which are linking the
rural development programme in Pakistan with public and private
initiatives.
One of them is the Thardeep Rural Development Programme, located
in the Tharparkar district of Sindh. It works among rural women
artisans in four arid areas of Sindh - Umerkot, Dadu, Kairpur and
Tharpakar.
"We provide enterprise support to 300 Hindu craftswomen from the
Meghwar tribe who embroider cotton apparel, craft leather shoes
and make bead accessories. We are also reviving several dying
crafts," programme resource person and textile designer Madiha
Kazi told IANS.
The Asasah Microcredit, a Lahore-based micro-credit firm, has
brought a collection of "gota" and "kundan" (traditional crafts)
embroidery, along with Pakistani "truck art" accessories, which
are sought after in India.
Nangmyaoo, a lotus weaver, is a member of the four-women team from
Myanmar who is showcasing her lotus fabric scarves and lacquerware.
"It is one of the most popular ethnic crafts of Myanmar. I extract
the fibre for my products from the lotus blooms at my workshop in
my home," Nangmyaoo told IANS. She lives in the middle of the Inle
Lake, one of the biggest inland fresh water in the Shan Hills of
Myanmar, with more than 70,000 people of the Intha community.
For the ICCR, this is the first engagement with south Asian
crafts. "Culture goes much beyond performing arts- it has to touch
people. This is a small step for ICCR in a new direction," ICCR
director-general Suresh Goel told IANS.
(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)
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