‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, A First Ever Endeavor At Rediscovering Cultural Footprints
By D N Singh
It has never been in Odisha or India, that a rare blend of art, culture, craft and stories are being commemorated in a rare amalgamation.
Playing the pivotal role on their unison and keeping each one’s thrust intact, the Union Culture Ministry has volunteered to ink a pact with Bhubanswar-based two known educational hubs for the integration through work-shops and brain-storming.
It is an effort never made before and a conceptualization at preservation of the above forms .
An MoU with the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, was signed with KIIT and KISS recently to work jointly to protect, preserve and promote tribal art, craft, stories and culture through research and documentation, exhibitions of contemporary artworks, seminars, conferences, and exchange visits for the tribal artisans.
In A First In India & Odisha
For the first time ever, the NGMA has joined hands with KIIT & KISS to organize a six-day mega artists’ workshop – ‘Kala Kumbh’ – at KISS to celebrate ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and the heroic lives and struggles of unsung heroes of India’s freedom movement.
The workshop, the first of its kind in India, is underway under the direct supervision of Shri Adwaita Gadanayak, Director-General, NGMA from 12th to 17th December 2021.
It aims to creatively showcase the legacies of India’s freedom struggle and national pride on five scrolls of 75 meters, which will form an integral part of the Republic Day celebrations 2022.
The workshop intends to highlight a unique collaboration between the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Defence and similar workshops will also be held in other parts of the country, informed Gadanayak.
Culture Boundless
“It is intended to showcase our rich cultural heritage of indigenous and contemporary visual art practices, focusing on diverse geographical locations of India. Inspiration will also be drawn from the creative illustrations in the Constitution of India wherein the artistic elements painted by Nandalal Bose and his team have imparted a distinctive appeal.
“It will be an embodiment of all that is progressive about India’s socio-cultural, political and economic identity, which is intended to be prominently represented on the large scale”, he stated.
Artists from across India including Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, north-east and Andhra Pradesh are participating with artistic expressions reflecting the indigenous forms of art such as Pattachitra, Talapatrachitra, Manjusa, Madhubani and Jadupatua to name a few. KIIT & KISS has supported all artists by providing accommodation and transportation facilities. Harshvardhan Sharma, Chairman, Advisory Committee, NGMA; eminent artists Ramahari Jena and Veejayant Das are also the coordinators and mentors of the event.
At a time when subjects like the above ones are being pushed to obscurity of preferences, the effort to rebuild the formats through such initiatives deserve attention.
A much elated founder of the above two educational institutions, Achyut Samant, who has spearheaded a campaign for promotion of sports also said” It makes us humbled that the UC ministry has reposed its faith on us”.
