Adivasi Craft
Like their paintings, adivasi crafts are also very diverse: form-wise, usage/utility-wise, and in terms of production process, they are dissimilar to one another. A wide variety of natural materials and local technologies are used, which demonstrates the unique skill sets and scientific imaginations/applications practiced in indigenous spaces since the dawn of civilization.
However, co-optation of cultural expressions by the urban elites and steep competition posed by the industrial/commercial world make the existence of the adivasi artisans and their crafts vulnerable; some of them are on the verge of extinction. Even if there is some desire to preserve and promote indigenous creations, scholars call for more initiatives to ensure the survival of adivasis and their crafts.
Video documentation of three adivasi crafts is shared, showing usages of three materials to build crafts: clay, metal, and wood.
Watch:
Terracotta Craft of Bastar
Wrought Iron Craft of Bastar
Tuma Craft of Bastar
Additional Readings:
- Walking a Tightrope: Indigenous Indian Art and its Reception, by A. Das
- Culture and Development, an Experiment with Empowerment, by Ganesh N. Devy
- Chhattisgarh Handicrafts Development Board (CHDB): Cultivating Opportunities, by J. Isaac
