Keeping the magic of the age-old thread work alive

Day in and day out we witness some form of traditional art but how many of us have heard about kantha, which is said to be one of the oldest forms of embroidery that originated in India, especially in West Bengal. For the first time Mati (Management of Arts Treasures of India) is exhibiting an extensive collection of Kanthas for the art and textile lovers of Delhi at Art Gallery, Kamala Devi Complex. The exhibits date from the late 19th century till pre-independence and contemporary kantha created in the 1990s, initiated by the renowned sculptor, the late Meera Mukherjee.

The exhibition also comes as a tribute to Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay who was a social reformer and freedom fighter. She is most remembered for being the driving force behind the renaissance of handicrafts, handlooms and theatre in independent India, and for the upliftment of the socio-economic condition of Indian women.

Kantha in Sanskrit translates into rags and the art form emulates the fact as the embroidery is made up of re-cycling discarded and worthless old clothes into a graceful wholeness. “This whole concept of kantha is purely noble, executed by women folk only by stitching old saris with a top layer of dhoti.

The subject that they depict is what they were aware of, reflecting their surroundings, nature and history. In needle reverence you see something very sublime brought out after they have completed the craft,” says Siddhartha Tagore, who started collecting kantha from the early 1980s. It is more his collection and a few others that the studio will be exhibiting.

Tagore had early exposure to the art form as his father Subho Tagore, who was a kantha collector himself. “I have been living with it since an early age and it has become a part of my life. Traditional kantha – Lep kantha – were made by women for their children and grandchildren depicting various rural subjects. In contemporary kantha however, utility changes. One is no more restricted to lep kantha or quilt. Now, it has diversified to bedspread, saris, kurtas, etc.

The subject matter also changes from rural to becoming more urbanised in the sense that you also see Premchand’s story of Shatranj Ke Khiladi and many of Tagore’s poems woven on pillow covers. Even traditional flowers change to urban flowers like roses, lilies and more,” says Tagore, adding, “Sometimes you even see political connotations.”

Talking about the relevance of reviving the art, which has been a huge part of Bengal’s history, Tagore says, “I don’t think that kanthas will now be restricted only to Bengal. This kind of kantha stitch is also practised in Gujarat, Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, you name it. There are may be very few families which are still practising but, by and large, it’s going to be subsequently hybrid in nature now. Cross-cultural influences also come into the picture.

They will also interfere in the design utility of kantha. So I do not know if it is good for traditional kantha. For preservation, it is now only found in museums and a few private collectors. I feel there should be more textile institutions that should have textile museums. However, among people, the awareness is definitely increasing, whether it is traditional or contemporary.”The Needle Reverence exhibition is open till April 12 from 11 am to 7 pm at Art Gallery, India International Centre.