Make Art/Stop AIDS Workshop in Kolkata

[Guest guest]

Make Art/Stop AIDS Workshop in Kolkata, India

Participants from India, Nepal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Surinam, and

the United States, including many leading Indian film and folk media artists,

attended a four-day workshop to " Make Art/Stop AIDS " in Kolkata (formerly

Calcutta), in July 2004.

The following day, a public forum was held in New Delhi. Those attending

included filmmakers, actors, puppeteers, scroll-painters, and photographers. The

idea was to bring together artists engaged in the battle against AIDS, so that

they could interact and network. Traditional art is a good way to reach out to

people at the grassroots.

In multicultural India, folk art and performances have always been a source of

entertainment and education. Thus, one finds scroll-painters adapting the

message of prevention of HIV into their pat chitras (scroll paintings). Instead

of the usual mythical figures they use figures of doctors and nurses and sing

along, explaining everything, in the same way as they sing the legend of gods

and goddesses.

It is quite revealing how creative tools are being used to talk about AIDS. The

centuries-old art of shadow puppetry is a one-man show, as the puppeteer acts

out the dialogues, plays the drum, and controls the puppets simultaneously.

Commissioned to adapt his art to spread awareness about AIDS in villages one

puppeteer has changed the script with great sense of humor to show a lascivious

king and a dancer, or a man going for an extra-marital affair, to talk about the

wisdom of condom use. (Contributed by Anuradha Bhattacharjee on 2 August, 2004)

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/culture/rc/ItemDetail.do~1008801~intcmp=000\

01

____________________________

Janet Feldman

E-mail: kaippg@...