Chitpur Local Second Edition, 2017-18
Initiated in 2014, Chitpur Local is an ongoing socially engaged art project located on Chitpur Road, Kolkata, one of the city’s oldest and most diverse neighbourhoods. Over the years, the project has brought together artists and local communities and institutions of the Battola neighbourhood of Chitpur Road, which is an erstwhile centre of printing, publishing, jewellery making, jatra and other popular art forms. Through Artists' Fellowships located in the area, Hamdasti aims to generate a dialogue about diverse local histories, build new interactions, catalyze active engagement and reimagine its public spaces and local traditions.
In the second edition of Chitpur Local eight artists joined the Fellowship, and developed projects at Chitpur through collaborations with local communities. Students, crafts people, residents, local organizations and even the police, came together to share their stories, and reveal different facets of their neighbourhood. The projects featured interactive, public artworks that not only explored the many histories of Chitpur, but also addressed the critical issues of its present, and created a platform to build new imaginations for its future.
In the second edition of Chitpur Local eight artists joined the Fellowship, and developed projects at Chitpur through collaborations with local communities. Students, crafts people, residents, local organizations and even the police, came together to share their stories, and reveal different facets of their neighbourhood. The projects featured interactive, public artworks that not only explored the many histories of Chitpur, but also addressed the critical issues of its present, and created a platform to build new imaginations for its future.
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The Courtyard Reimagined
Unusual interactions in a traditional space Anuradha Pathak in collaboration with the members of the Dawn Bari and Phanush Bari Anuradha worked within the heritage homes of Chitpur to document the history of the dalans (courtyards) and tested new ways of using these unique public-private spaces. |
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The Back Alleys of Heritage Street
Games that explored the concept of heritage and conservation Dipyaman Kar in collaboration with Pradeep Kumar Dawn and members of local clubs Through a series of card games, Dipyaman worked with the leaders of local para clubs to question the relevance of heritage conservation in the context of their lives today. |
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The Golden Trail
A mobile contraption for imprinting Chitpur Road with varied local associations Nilanjan Das in collaboration with local print makers such as Bholanath Studio, Rabindra Litho and Haldar Studio Nilanjan had been working in collaboration with local printmakers to popularize local printing techniques since 2014. For the second edition of Chiptur Local he used print as a medium for people at Chitpur to map their diverse associations with the word shona (gold) and reveal some of the well-known as well as the unspoken aspects of the locality through this word play. |
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Our (un)Familiar Streets
An interactive walk showcasing the stretch of road between their school and Jorasanko Thakurbari Ruchira Das in collaboration with the students and teachers of Sri Bidya Niketan Girls High School Through a year-long process of workshops and walks Ruchira worked with a local school to reinterpret local history through the perspective of the girls and find way to help them connect to their neighbourhood’s heritage. |
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Framing a Griha Lakshmi (domestic goddess)
A peepshow with stories from the past the present Srota Dutta, in collaboration with women and studio photographers of Chitpur Srota facilitated a series of addas (dialogues) that explored women’s identities and evolving understanding of beauty through matrimonial photographs shared by local women. These conversations were encapsulated in a peepshow that took the dialogue forward in public spaces. |
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Poetry of Daily Life
A series of poetic interventions in the landscape of daily life Suhasini Kejriwal in collaboration with Bholanath Studios, stamp and signage Makers Suhasini worked with Bholanath Das to reinvent the mundane commercial activity of making signage to that highlight the everyday beauty of the neighbourhood. |
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Jorabagan Encounters A game that takes you behind the scenes of the local police station Sumona Chakravarty in collaboration with the Jorabagan Traffic Guard This project, created in collaboration with the local traffic police, unpacked the role of police in communities and brought together police, local communities and audiences, creating a space of play and activating the thana as an open public space. |
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These projects culminated in a public art festival. Tales of Chitpur, the second edition of the Chitpur Local Art Festival, filled the lanes and bylanes of this historic locality through public art, addas (dialogues) music, films, walks, workshops and more. The festival was unique because the projects and events were located in community spaces such as libraries, heritage homes, craft studios, schools and even the local the police station, along the historic Chitpur Road. For community members and visitors alike, this festival was a new way to experience this locality and see it from a fresh perspective.
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In order to reflect on these collaborative projects and create a larger dialogue on social arts practices, Hamdasti curated a week long Lab - Stereoscopic Narratives at the Goethe Institut, Kolkata. Just as the human eye makes sense of the world by recognizing different perspectives and then creating a composite stereoscopic image, Stereoscopic Narratives brought together the converging and diverging perspectives of the artists and the community collaborators. The gallery of was transformed into a backstage space for the Tales of Chitpur Festival, with props and set-pieces creating 6 installations, each representing different perspectives of the Chitpur Local journey.
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Donors
Chitpur Local 2017-18 was partially funded by The India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice Program.
Other funders and donors include The Department of Tourism Government of West Bengal, RP-Sanjeev Goenka Group, Mr. Jyoti Poddar, Rashmi Dhanwani, Paula Sengupta, Srijon Banerjee, Yashraj Khaitan, Abeer Chakravarty, Neeta Wadekar, Ananya Basu, Sudhir Kothari, Apaar Arora, Himalini Varma, Sriyanta Chatterjee, Anis Wahhab, Rahul Bansal, Puja Agarwal, Vasundhara Sharma, Rohan Jaikishen, Rupa De, Alpana Chakrabarty, Pummy & Kaveri Narang, Agnidev Roy, Aatreyee Guha Thakurta
Other funders and donors include The Department of Tourism Government of West Bengal, RP-Sanjeev Goenka Group, Mr. Jyoti Poddar, Rashmi Dhanwani, Paula Sengupta, Srijon Banerjee, Yashraj Khaitan, Abeer Chakravarty, Neeta Wadekar, Ananya Basu, Sudhir Kothari, Apaar Arora, Himalini Varma, Sriyanta Chatterjee, Anis Wahhab, Rahul Bansal, Puja Agarwal, Vasundhara Sharma, Rohan Jaikishen, Rupa De, Alpana Chakrabarty, Pummy & Kaveri Narang, Agnidev Roy, Aatreyee Guha Thakurta
