Australian artist paints to raise funds for Amphan-hit villagers
KOLKATA: A Melbourne-based textile designer artist has been using her time during the Covid 19 lockdown to create a painting every day to raise funds for the Amphan-affected in Sundarbans and other areas of Bengal.
Julia Raath has been visiting India since 1998 as guest foreign faculty to teach textile design at NIFT. There is something totally charming about the face. It is also warm and compassionate. The smile is disarming just as it is open. This is how the 62-year-old Raath would come across to anyone in Kolkata's Covid-locked down world from her home in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Why Kolkata? Why indeed?
Every day, ever since the lockdown artist, textile designer, with a passion for print and surface design, has been creating art; at least one a day. She is selling them to collect funds for the Amphan-affected in and around Kolkata, especially Sundarbans.
Raath has tied up with a Kolkata-based citizen's initiative #GiveALittle#EktuDeen that has evolved around the need to deliver relief in Covid-stressed and Amphan-affected regions from Kolkata right up to the Sundarbans. “I have close ties with the Craft Resource Centre, NGO based in Kolkata, and when cyclone Amphan hit, I asked y friends there how I might help. They led me to #GiveALittle #EktuDeen who are able to respond quickly to the needs of people impacted by both COVID-19 and Cyclone Amphan", Raath said.
Her love for teaching has brought her to India as a visiting professor since 1998 including several visits as guest foreign faculty to teach textile design at NIFT Kolkata. Raath is intrigued by diverse range of textiles and traditional crafts produced in Indian villages and has "a particular interest in West Bengal". “Now people in the distant Sundarbans and areas around it, have her to thank for helping them from behind the scenes,” said Aditi Roy Ghatak of “GiveALittle”. The Gol Park resident added, "We did not know her but we did get a call from her one day, introducing herself and saying that she wanted to help. We were delighted, of course".
Raath said she has a personal preference for floral, geometric and abstract designs and enjoys working with colour and the prints that she has created helps her overcome the Covid-19 induced despondency.
Her interest in textiles has taken her on "an extraordinary journey which started at Canberra School of Art and photography" and then to starting her own textile printing business. "I have been very fortunate to have been employed as a teacher in a field that I love and have had extensive experience teaching textile design in both the higher education and vocational education sectors in Australia and India".
Julia Raath has been visiting India since 1998 as guest foreign faculty to teach textile design at NIFT. There is something totally charming about the face. It is also warm and compassionate. The smile is disarming just as it is open. This is how the 62-year-old Raath would come across to anyone in Kolkata's Covid-locked down world from her home in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Why Kolkata? Why indeed?
Every day, ever since the lockdown artist, textile designer, with a passion for print and surface design, has been creating art; at least one a day. She is selling them to collect funds for the Amphan-affected in and around Kolkata, especially Sundarbans.
Raath has tied up with a Kolkata-based citizen's initiative #GiveALittle#EktuDeen that has evolved around the need to deliver relief in Covid-stressed and Amphan-affected regions from Kolkata right up to the Sundarbans. “I have close ties with the Craft Resource Centre, NGO based in Kolkata, and when cyclone Amphan hit, I asked y friends there how I might help. They led me to #GiveALittle #EktuDeen who are able to respond quickly to the needs of people impacted by both COVID-19 and Cyclone Amphan", Raath said.
Her love for teaching has brought her to India as a visiting professor since 1998 including several visits as guest foreign faculty to teach textile design at NIFT Kolkata. Raath is intrigued by diverse range of textiles and traditional crafts produced in Indian villages and has "a particular interest in West Bengal". “Now people in the distant Sundarbans and areas around it, have her to thank for helping them from behind the scenes,” said Aditi Roy Ghatak of “GiveALittle”. The Gol Park resident added, "We did not know her but we did get a call from her one day, introducing herself and saying that she wanted to help. We were delighted, of course".
Raath said she has a personal preference for floral, geometric and abstract designs and enjoys working with colour and the prints that she has created helps her overcome the Covid-19 induced despondency.
Her interest in textiles has taken her on "an extraordinary journey which started at Canberra School of Art and photography" and then to starting her own textile printing business. "I have been very fortunate to have been employed as a teacher in a field that I love and have had extensive experience teaching textile design in both the higher education and vocational education sectors in Australia and India".
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