Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Hearts and Crafts


Two songs from two brinks of our country still ring in my head. The first, a Bengali song was sung by a woman pointing at an ever unravelling roll of canvas, releasing a riot of colours and folk art, of personified fish, semi-humans and demi-Gods. The second, in namma Kannada, was sung by a man staring pensively at his work depicting the yearly tug of the divine chariot. Art and song brewed together to serve up some manna for the soul.


Kala Madhyam decided to provide the plates. By bridging folk artists (most of whom practice dying ancient art forms) and urban society, KM manages to provide a source of income to these gifted but sometimes hapless poor artists. 70% of their earnings from providing paintings, handicrafts, bric-a-bracs, clothes and murals go to the artists. Of the remaining 30% KM pays for the travel, stay and raw materials of the artists. The remaining goes back into the machine. Think you can help?

Check out the details at KALA MADHYAM

2 comments:

Shilo Shiv Suleman said...

I'd love to.
But how?

Hari Adivarekar said...

Click on the link at the end of the entry that says "Kala Madyam" and you'll find the contact details. Speak to Munira Sen and ask her what you can do. The last I spoke to her, she needed someone to help design their website. So there's a start. :)