I was flicking through Ana Serrano's ok, bye the blog (see: Cartonlandia) and it is full of amazing, inspiring posts! I couldn't help but yoink this one - I love it on so many levels...
The Meena Women
"Meena, one of the oldest tribal communities residing in eastern Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh, has succeeded in preserving its cultural identity even today."
"The art of the Meenas is a collective, community art, where every member of the community, predominantly women, has honed their Mandana painting skills. It is primarily a non-professional art practiced by the community women in various realms of life. The art of embellishing mud-houses with these beautiful Mandana paintings is learned from elders; there is no formal training or apprenticeship. The continuity in its practice closely knits the mundane activities of daily life and the production of utilitarian objects. This art is functional, no matter whether its objective is to give aesthetic shape to tools and articles of everyday use, or to bolster the ideology of social structures."
"Mandana has persisted among the Meena women through generations, passing from mother to daughter by means of social exchange. These women are highly skilled and well ‘educated’ in terms of their long and rich experiences. For these women artists, simple shapes like squares, circles, triangles, etc. become the alphabet for an exercise in picture writing. When asked for the reason behind these creations, their answer is simple and spontaneous – “chokha lage che” (i.e., it feels good to make them). But when one goes into the details of this art, one finds many parallel stories and reasons for Mandana being so religiously practiced." Read more here!
"Meena, one of the oldest tribal communities residing in eastern Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh, has succeeded in preserving its cultural identity even today."
"The art of the Meenas is a collective, community art, where every member of the community, predominantly women, has honed their Mandana painting skills. It is primarily a non-professional art practiced by the community women in various realms of life. The art of embellishing mud-houses with these beautiful Mandana paintings is learned from elders; there is no formal training or apprenticeship. The continuity in its practice closely knits the mundane activities of daily life and the production of utilitarian objects. This art is functional, no matter whether its objective is to give aesthetic shape to tools and articles of everyday use, or to bolster the ideology of social structures."
"Mandana has persisted among the Meena women through generations, passing from mother to daughter by means of social exchange. These women are highly skilled and well ‘educated’ in terms of their long and rich experiences. For these women artists, simple shapes like squares, circles, triangles, etc. become the alphabet for an exercise in picture writing. When asked for the reason behind these creations, their answer is simple and spontaneous – “chokha lage che” (i.e., it feels good to make them). But when one goes into the details of this art, one finds many parallel stories and reasons for Mandana being so religiously practiced." Read more here!
oh! oh! oh! so perfect! fascinating! marvelous! thrilling!! :D
ReplyDeleteisn't it??!:D
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