2015-19
UDHBHAV
Avinash Karn
Chandidih village, Jharkhand
Avinash, a visual artist who hails from Ranti village in the Madhubani district of Bihar, brought his traditional practice of Madhubani painting to the tribal women of Chandidih Village, Jharkhand.
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Over the years (2015-16), the group of ten from Chandidih have slowly learnt the motifs and methods of Madhubani painting, and made it their own.
Avinash Karn along with participants of Udhbhav, in Chandidih village - Radhesh Oraon, Kanjo Munda, Lalita Munda, Maini Munda, Nikita Toppo, Puja Munda, Sanjoti Nediya.
With Avinash’s guidance through one entire year, and then in short periods after, they have created expressive paintings and murals that tell intimate stories of their life and work in the village - farming, collecting forest produce, looking after their homes and animals - and also of their dreams.
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Through 2018-19, some of the women were able to travel for the first time out of their village to Avinash’s art studio in Varanasi for two residencies. During this period, the women lived together at the studio, often interacting with other contemporary artists in the city, seeing exhibitions and experiencing the life of the old city.
Madhubani Murals and paintings depicting village life and dreams, were made during workshops in Chandidih.
They were able to further experiment with their practice, creating larger Madhubani paintings that were directly inspired by what they saw around them in Varanasi - the ghats, busy railway stations and shops.
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Overtime Artreach has been able to exhibit some of these artworks at our exhibitions in Delhi, and they have been very well received.
Madhubani Paintings during the residency for participants from Chandidih in Varanasi depicted their experiences of the city, as it was the first time most had come out of their village.
About the grantee
Avinash Karn is an artist based in Ranti village, Madhubani, Bihar. Previously he has conducted workshops for urban dwellers as well as in the form of community building initiatives with the tribal people in Jharkhand. He studied at Banaras Hindu University’s Department of Fine Arts but has kept his focus on the art of Madhubani with his art practise. He has received the Piramal Art Foundation arts residency (2016), has been supported by Artreach India for leading community art projects for Udbhav I (2015-16), Udbhav II (2018) and has received a Scholarship in the field of Madhubani Painting, Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, New Delhi (2014-16). He has been commissioned to paint several large scale murals and his works have been exhibited and collected worldwide.