Gallery Gaon

What was conceptualised five years ago by a young artist and alumnus of Vadodara’s M S University, Sandarbh is on the verge of turning into a full-fledged movement-it’s now starting receiving invitations from gram panchayats!

Their first workshop was organised in Rajasthan’s Vagad region, where the artists not only created installations, but ‘performance art’. In one particular performance by Yatin Upadhyay called ‘Blue Man’, the group painted themselves blue, and pretending to be flowing water, walked all over a dry lakebed. The creator recalls, “While we were performing, our auto-rickshaw driver who drove us there, got so interested in the act, that he painted himself blue and joined us. It is such involvement that we hope to generate.”

Sandarbh made its urban debut on January 20 in Vadodara but have till date held at least six workshops covering more than 55 villages in Rajasthan. Says M S University’s Faculty of Fine Arts alumnus and founder of Sandarbh, Chintan Upadhyay, “The workshop is a concept of space, which metamorphoses with time and the surrounding environment.” The group aims to connect local traditional art with contemporary art and also use art to draw attention to issues that need to be highlighted, says Chintan.

The result has been heartening. Locals like shopkeeper Ashok Kansara and local metal craftsman in Pratapur in Rajasthan now close their shops early to join Sandarbh in their rounds.

Straddling bohemian art-experimentation, activism as well as respect for folk art forms, these young artists are hoping to strike an alternate creative route that makes sure that art doesn’t remain confined to art galleries and art shows in cities.

“We don’t really do this for profit, so sometimes we get sponsors, but usually we try to work with what we can scrounge from the village we are working in,” Upadhyay says.

Sandarbh has created small village level museums, self-help groups and makeshift galleries. “In Hintakhidani and Baikagoda villages, on Gujarat-Rajasthan border we actually started museums. Here, we displayed objects we collected from families in the village. Sometimes a sword, a shield, a photograph, cooking utensils and even some clothes,” says Yatin.

The beginning was though. “It was difficult initially, but once we displayed the artifacts, we got more donations as people wanted to see their memorabilia displayed on the wall.”