the sonargaon folk arts and crafts museum preserving our crafts heritage
The Sonargaon Folk Arts and Crafts Museum was established by Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin to store craft objects for future generations. He hoped to promote the steadily declining trade, encourage the skill of its producers and preserve the hundreds of years of history that crafts represents. Kashfia Arif and Fahim Siddiqi investigate the history of this monumental project and reflect on its importance.
The economic marginalization of the handicrafts industry has been a problem in Bangladesh that precedes its independence. Folk arts and crafts are important to our culture as symbols of identity and remnants of history. And yet, the influx of cheaper alternative goods, made in factories by big corporations, has pushed these handmade treasures out of daily usage. It is fast becoming imperative to save and preserve this endangered art form, as socio-economic forces beyond the ken of humble artisans dwindle the small pockets of demand this industry still retains. Zainul Abedin, the artist, pioneer and visionary who helped shape the course of modern and traditional arts in Bangladesh, proposed the creation of a facility to store these crafts, as examples of fine workmanship and as treasurers from Bangladesh’s rich cultural past. The Sonargaon Folk Arts Museum was built in 1975 and became the fulfillment of his mission.
Craftsmen in ancient Bengal were commissioned by kings and feudal lords to build several mosques, temples and palaces for their use. But, in the early-19th century, the demands of the ruling class began to reflect a shift toward modern tastes thanks to new technologies and a growing Western influence in the region. This change left craftsmen to cater to the needs of their respective villages. Pots, utensils, toys and other everyday items were made using available raw materials such as clay, bamboo and cane, collected from these small agriculture-based communities. Today, folk arts and crafts survive in these villages, where small groups of craftsmen live and sell their wares. But, the goods that these craftsmen produce are no longer an integral part of our daily lives. Bangladesh’s rapid modernization is encroaching upon markets where crafts still retain their popularity.
A folk arts and crafts museum, built to preserve this endangered art form, represents an important step towards saving the handicrafts industry from extinction. These objects, such as brass pots, embroidered bags or terracotta works, were not meant to be placed inside glass cases or displayed on walls. However, the invasion of foreign and factory-made products into the domestic market has pushed handicrafts into niche corners, under the banner of “traditional” goods. This tendency led several craftsmen to pursue different lines of work, while many others slowly lost their motivation and skill for producing top-quality crafts. A museum, can act as a reference point for these craftsmen to study the goods made by their predecessors and improve their own work. There is a marked difference in quality between the Jamdani saris and nakshi kanthas of old and the ones made today. Contemporary craftsmen can appreciate and learn from these exhibits and make better crafts. The museum also serves a historical function by giving us a rare glimpse of the lives of our ancestors through the everyday items they used. Crafts were once sold at every shop and bought by people from all walks of life. But their declining use by large segments of the population necessitates their placement in such a museum, to serve as examples of the fine workmanship of craftsmen and as remnants of a nearly forgotten era of our history.
Zainul Abedin, the famous painter and pioneer of the modern art movement in Bangladesh, was the chief advocate for the creation of a folk arts museum. His work as an artist and his role as an activist who wished to preserve and protect the indigenous arts of his country have been inspirational and has helped define the breadth and scope of both modern and traditional Bangladeshi arts. Abedin’s paintings reveal the depth of his love and concern for the rural communities of Bangladesh. Men and women who face and overcome natural or man-made disasters are a recurring theme in Abedin’s work, appearing in many of his most famous paintings. His preoccupation with the daily struggles of village life explains his activities as a crafts preservationist. A native of the Kishoreganj district in Mymensigh, Abedin eventually settled in Dhaka following the partition of India. For his success as an artist and teacher, Abedin was called upon to re-establish Bangladesh’s cultural identity in the wake of the country’s liberation movement. He became an activist, working hard to preserve and promote the local arts of Bangladesh and to find a voice for his people. His enthusiasm gave birth to the concept of a folk arts museum, to collect and house the dwindling number of handicrafts from these surviving traditions for future generations. For his many contributions to the arts, as a painter, visionary, educator and activist, His students, fellow artists and the general people began calling him “Shilpacharya” or “Great Teacher of the Arts.” He died of lung cancer a few months after the Sonargaon project was completed.
The site for the Sonargaon folk arts and crafts museum was chosen based on a number of factors; chief among these was Sonargaon’s ability to accurately represent the rural setting in which the crafts tradition was born and continues to thrive. In order to create such a backdrop, Abedin and his fellow crafts preservationists needed a large area of open land. Plans for the complex included, in addition to the crafts museum, a crafts shop, boating and fishing services, spaces for crafts demonstrations and markets and small houses built in the same style as the ones seen dotting the village landscape. These ideas would manifest themselves as the crafts village, workshops and fairs hosted at the facility today. The decision to recreate aspects of village life was made to evoke the context in which our country’s folk arts and handicrafts were originally conceived. Visitors are invited to learn the history of the crafts tradition at the museum, and immerse themselves in culture, thereby gaining a greater appreciation for this old and underappreciated art form. Such a facility would not have been possible in a city. It would also prove costly and cumbersome to build the museum in a place like Dhaka, where the difficulties of finding space to accommodate the facility and the additional costs of landscaping to add authenticity to the village setting would pose major challenges.
Sonargaon is thus the ideal location for the folk arts and crafts museum, not only for its proximity to rural crafts communities or the open space it has, but also for its history as a commercial centre and as a production hub for crafts. The “golden village,” (a literal translation of its name) was once the administrative capital of eastern Bengal when Muslim rule was first established in the region. According to the written accounts of scholars who traveled through the Indian Subcontinent, Sonargaon was once a river port where goods from nearby countries were collected and sold. It was also a trading point where some of Bengal’s finest products were made and exported to foreign markets. Sonargaon’s muslin gained worldwide recognition when it was taken abroad by rich merchants to their respective homelands. But, the city lost its commercial and political significance when the Mughal Empire established Dhaka as its seat of power in 1608. Today, we find evidence of Sonargaon’s former glory in the medieval township situated within a few kilometres of the city. Adventurous visitors who choose to take a quick detour from the crafts museum will be able to see the remains of several ancient mosques and zamindar villas, some of which predate the arrival of the Mughals, being built before the area came under Muslim control. Visitors should also take note of the nearby villages which are home to several communities of craftsmen, the descendants of muslin weavers whose works were known all over the world as some of the finest fabrics ever made.
The museum’s collection is displayed inside a two-storied aristocratic building that seems to have survived since colonial times. Sardar Bari, as the building is known, was once the home of a feudal lord and its architecture reflects the social strata to which the house’s owner must have belonged. The arched gateways welcoming visitors into open courtyards, the balconies and the decorative stucco work done along the walls, must have been expensive. Jyotindra Jain, an anthropologist, art historian and expert on indigenous arts, who prepared a report on the Sonargaon folk arts and crafts museum at the request of UNESCO and the Government of Bangladesh in 1983, deemed the building unsuitable for its purpose. He argued that Sardar Bari was unfit to house a collection of crafts “not only because it is dilapidated and lets in ample dust and humidity, but also because the humble village objects which are displayed inside stand out in sharp contrast to the palatial characteristics of the building.”
Converting a nobleman’s house into a museum for village crafts seems like an odd choice for the administration, who was reportedly concerned with maintaining the authenticity of rural life. However, it could also be argued that Sardar Bari was a display item itself, a testament to the hard work and fine craftsmanship that went into building and beautifying this palatial estate. Jain’s second point regarding the climate and its effects on the handicrafts on display is a cause for concern. The hundred-acre compound features ponds and a picturesque lake, which add to the beauty of the complex. But they also pose a danger to the crafts stored in the museum because these water bodies can greatly increase the humidity in the air, particularly during the monsoon season, causing harm to the craft objects inside. Jain recommended making substantial renovations to the building or moving the displays entirely to a more well-equipped facility within the grounds. Today, the Sonargaon folk arts and crafts museum still houses its craft items in Sardar Bari but has received a sum of Tk. 100 million from a Korean organization for restoration work. Today, the museum complex houses a crafts village, workshops and picnic spots. Visitors can eat at one of the many cafeterias, go for a boat ride, or fish at the lake and watch craftsmen at work. They can spend a day enjoying and experiencing Bangladesh’s rich cultural heritage at their leisure.
The museum stores many artifacts of cultural and historical significance. However, it is important to note that the quality of these items may not be a true representation of handicrafts made during the height of the trade’s popularity. Time has taken its toll on the objects displayed here, causing significant damage to some of the works seen in the museum. The collection itself is not uniform in quality due to difficulties the administrators faced in finding the best examples of every crafts medium from the Indian Subcontinent. The administrators caution that with each passing year it becomes more and more challenging to procure these samples. This is why it is doubly important for crafts preservationists and activists to generate funds and collect more craft works before they are lost to time. The items on display in the Sonargaon folk arts and crafts museum include the following:
idols
The region was predominantly Hindu before it fell under Muslim rule and so there is a mixture of both cultures in the art. This can be seen in the selection of idol statues found in the collection. From earth to wood to metal, all sorts of variations in material and forms are observed. The majority of the idols are of Ganesh and Krishna. The folk arts museum is the only place which houses an eight-armed statue of Ganesh, a rare piece since the Hindu deity is most often depicted as being four-armed. Idols of the goddesses of wealth and education, Lakshmi and Saraswati respectively, can be seen as well.
folk artwork
The museum has several galleries dedicated to the folk artwork of Bangladesh. From tapestries to woodcraft and paintings, the selection is diverse. The technique and style of artistry is in simple bold lines and details with vivid colours. They tell stories and local myths that were popular at the time of their conception. One such piece is the depiction of the life story of Raja Harishchandra painted on a carving created from a single piece of wood. Another is a kantha-stitched tapestry of Krishna and his famous tale of stealing butter.
masks
In royal courts, theatre was the preferred form of entertainment after music. The use of masks in plays carries significance. It allowed actors and entertainers to depict a variety of characters and expressions, making their performances that much more interesting and dramatic. Various masks portraying expressions, gender and even animals (like tiger masks) are on exhibit, showing the rich theatre culture that is part of Bangladeshi tradition.
musical instruments
Baul songs have their roots in Bangladesh and a complete collection of the musical instruments that accompany the artists as they sang their music is present in the museum. The ektara and the dotara, fashioned out of bamboo, wood and strings, are the most common instruments crafted and used by these traveling musicians. A variety of them, showing the development of the instrument from historic to its more modern forms, are in the museum. There are also more complicated, multi-stringed instruments such as the sitar on display too although these were used in the creation of music for court performances later on, and aren’t of Bangladeshi origin. Other traditional Bengali instruments such as the dhol (large percussion drm) and flute are also part of the collection.
boats
On the grounds, there is a picturesque boathouse in the shape of a peacock. This nod to the inherent water-based traditions of the region is shown in an array of wooden boats in the museum. These boats symbolize the river culture of Bangladesh, showing the progression of boat crafting in this country. There are around 150 miniature models crafted out of wood. They are patterned with designs that replicate the actual artwork done on their life-sized counterparts. The artwork on these model boats are carefully carved out from wood or embellished with bamboo sheets and hand-painted. The Foundation plans to re-create these miniatures, scaled to their life-size measurements, for visitors, who can then gain a finer appreciation for the skill and technique required to make them.
terracotta art
Terracotta Art is the earliest form of plastic art in which Bengali artists excelled. The climate and the geographic position of the country allowed Bangladesh to access this material since the rivers of the deltaic country and the alluvial soil present at its banks made brick and clay baking smoother and easier. The art products in terracotta or burnt clay satisfied the creative impulse of the artists and also met the domestic and ritual needs of ordinary people. The museum has a collection of terracotta bricks designed with different patterns. The use of terracotta bricks has always played an important role in the historical architecture of Bangladesh. Thus the museum displays a selection of terracotta, showing the change of designs from that time to modern periods. The collection reveals both Hindu and Muslim traditions of crafts. The variety is not only restricted to bricks that were used for construction but also terracotta plates, plaques and discs created for artwork. Just as their Hindu predecessors had decorated their temples with animal and human figures in plaques and plates, the terracotta panels extensively used on Muslim buildings for the ornamentation of the architectural monuments have exquisite floral and geometric carvings and abstract designs.
baking utensils
Pithas are native to Bengali culture. This food item is present in nearly every cultural festival of Bangladesh and has a variation for every season. The museum pays homage to this tradition through its wide range of pitha cutouts that were used to create designs on the culinary masterpieces dating back to the 19th Century, from bird and animal shapes to floral patterns to geometric outlines.
weapons and tools
Among the objects in the museum is an assortment of weapons and tools used. Shields woven from bamboo and cudgels fashioned from wood reminiscent of the pre-metal era are on display. Weapons and agricultural tools such as hoes and spades and other digging apparatuses with metal fittings are also there.
A visit to the Sonargaon Folk Arts and Crafts museum shows us exactly why we must not let our history go. Safeguarding these examples of expert workmanship means not only preserving a dying trade, but protecting our cultural heritage and identity as well.
KASHFIA ARIF is a student of English Literature and writes poetry. She was previously a feature writer for ICE Today.
FAHIM SIDDIQI is a staff writer for Jamini.
The Sonargaon Folk Arts and Crafts Museum was established by Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin to store craft objects for future generations. He hoped to promote the steadily declining trade, encourage the skill of its producers and preserve the hundreds of years of history that crafts represents. Kashfia Arif and Fahim Siddiqi investigate the history of this…