editorial

The inaugural issue of Jamini (August 2003) was on folk and indigenous art; our third issue (February 2004) highlighted festivals and the arts; now in this, our sixth issue, we have concentrated on a topic that further extends our interest in art forms that are related to the everyday life of people. What we focus on in this issue is popular art; a subject of perennial interest but one that has taken an added significance because of the current interest in Cultural Studies, recent developments in art theory, and the work of theorists such as Raymond Williams who have reminded us that art is embedded in the quotidian, and that we must search out traditions that were ignored in the past by a too rigid or elitist perspective on art.

 Our lead story this time, therefore, is on Shambhu Acharya, a patua or indigenous painter, whose family has excelled for generations in painting figures and motifs on cloth scrolls from the local myths and legends as well as Puranic stories. Tabish Khair writes lovingly of the magical art of Tashaywallah, the puppeteer who entranced him as a child growing up in Rajasthan, India. John Thieme writes enthusiastically of Trinidad’s carnivals made distinctive by the island’s calypso and steel bands. Gayatri Sinha traces the impact Indian popular art has had on mainstream art, beginning her survey with the nineteenth century Kalighat paintings of Kolkata and ending with an overview of the way leading contemporary Indian artists such as Bhupen Khakar, Ghulammohammed Sheikh, and Arpita Singh have made use of popular art in their works. Arun Gupto vividly describes how the goddesses of the Kathmandu valley have been imaged in varied shapes and forms in the art works of the region.

As was the case with our ‘Festival’ issue, this time too the Editorial Board has been pleasantly surprised by the rich harvest our call for papers eventually yielded. And some of the articles have been real eye openers. For, who would have thought that the graffiti and street art that has made parts of New York and its subway and other American cities infamous would also lead to original and expressive art? But that is exactly the conclusion a reader will arrive at after reading Ron Adams’s ‘The Current State of Graffiti and Street Art.’ Who would have thought sightseeing in a medieval Indian temple complex could lead to an incisive piece on popular culture and aesthetically attractive ruins?  And yet that is what Anjum Hasan has to offer us in his essay on tourism and culture in the Deccan plateau. Readers of our ‘Folk and Indigenous Art’ issue who found its essay on rickshaw painting in Bangladesh engrossing will find a parallel source of delight in Quddus Mirza’s fascinating piece on truck art in Pakistan. Our Book Review section, too, looks at a study of popular art in Pakistan that discusses how the instinct for art in people keeps overcoming barriers erected by politicians and zealots, surviving fatwas and thriving in unexpected ways.

This issue of Jamini is a special one not merely for the essays on popular art but also for other reasons. As promised in the fourth issue of Jamini, we now appear on the 1st of every February, May, August, and November, and intend to make every February issue a special one in terms of size (40 extra pages!) as well as in coverage. This issue thus moves beyond our special theme of popular art to bring to your attention the productions of exceptionally innovative artists from all over the world. We thus include Ken Bolton’s essay on the playful and yet cerebral art of the Adelaide artist Shaun Kirby. John A. Walker writes about Rolf Harris, the versatile Australian born English entertainer and immensely popular visual artist. Wejdan Almannai brings to our attention the controversial and fascinating work of the Egyptian-French-American artist Ghada Amer. Shakti Bhatt profiles the exceptional creations of the Bangalore artist Sheera Betnag.  By a happy coincidence, the publication of this issue a month after the extraordinary retrospective of Zainul Abedin’s paintings and sketches in Dhaka has enabled us to present Kaiser Haq’s review of this major event. 

In addition to highlighting art by exceptionally gifted and innovative artists, this issue of Jamini also provides overviews and insights into diverse art forms from all over the world. Thus if Abhi Subedi introduces us to mainstream Nepali art and artists, Sudhanva Deshpande writes eloquently about Indian theatrical productions that have become a means of exposing fascism and resisting it. If Sanchita Islam, a Bangladeshi artist in London writes enthusiastically about her work and those of other artists who have made  Brick Lane a vibrant centre of British-Asian art, Robyn Sassen demonstrates how the Ballet theatre Afrikan, a South African dance company, has succeeded in giving classical ballet ‘a local twist’. We hope, then, you will enjoy this special issue of Jamini and continue to find us special in our focus, our variety, and our production. We hope, too, that you will find future issues of Jamini as pleasing as this one, for our next volume will be on the modern masters of South Asian art and the subsequent one on photography as art. Be with us and we will try to make every issue of our magazine a special one!

The inaugural issue of Jamini (August 2003) was on folk and indigenous art; our third issue (February 2004) highlighted festivals and the arts; now in this, our sixth issue, we have concentrated on a topic that further extends our interest in art forms that are related to the everyday life of people. What we focus…