For the creation of an experimental prose-narrative in Bangla, in collaboration with a visual artist. The project tentatively titled Harilo Shaareer Kachhe Pajama Mohima (‘The Glory of The Pajama Loses to the Sari’) attempts to explore the travails of Bengal’s first women doctors in the early 19th century. It will study the complex dynamics between these women and the various stakeholders of the medical system at the time – practitioners of traditional medicine, male doctors of modern medicine, and lower caste midwives. The fictional work based on historical narratives will combine text with visual material from personal collections, libraries, and archives to form a framework for a book. The project will culminate in this book.The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be the manuscript of the book and published copies of the same, and photographic and digital documentation of artworks created for the book. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, material, local travel, professional fees, and an accountant’s fee.
For a series of workshops over eight months and an exhibition in the historic Chitpur locality of old Kolkata. The workshops are a continuation of the ‘Chitpur Local’ project designed to re-activate the cultural life of this locality with rich history and heritage. Eight artists in collaboration with local residents, businessmen, artists, craftsmen, police and schools will create various cultural activities, innovative audience engagement and a digital archive. Outcome of the project will be the workshops and a community exhibition. Still and video documentation of the workshops and the exhibition will be deposited as deliverables. The material will also be shared on the website and social media pages of the project. Grant funds will pay for workshops costs, professional fees, community collaborators’ fees, documentation costs, honorarium, website maintenance costs, and an accountant's fee.
For the creation of a multimedia exhibition, a seminar, and performances centred on the archival collection of music and papers of the Senia Gharana exponent, Pandit Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury. The rich collection, comprising the published and unpublished writings of Birendra Kishore, his personal notebooks, music ephemera, and photographs, will enable critical dialogues around music pedagogy, archiving, and engaging with archival materials for musical experimentations. The seminar also aims to foreground regional perspectives in the understanding and writing of music histories. The outcome will be a seminar, an exhibition, and performances. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be still and video documentation of the exhibition, seminar and performances, and the papers that will be presented at the seminar.
For the creation of a graphic novel that explores the tumultuous history of the rule of the Left Front in Bengal and its eventual collapse in 2011. The project attempts to understand the formation of the middle-class mindscape during this time and the challenges it faces in the current political context. It aims to analyse multiple marginal voices from the fractures of history, with autobiographical references to the artist’s own life. The outcome will be a book. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be rough sketches, photographic and textual documentation and the manuscript of the book.
For a series of exhibitions of photographs of veteran Jatra artists taken during an earlier IFA supported project by Soumya Sankar Bose, across five remote areas of West Bengal where Jatra artists still live. This will enable the photographer to take his work back to the community and create conversations around the lives of veteran Jatra artists. The outcome of the project will be the exhibitions.
For support towards the study of the history of Bengali posters from 1930s to the present time. The project aims to understand the political, social, cultural and aesthetic parameters of the posters and their transformations over the years. The outcomes of the grant will be a book, essays and collectible prints of old posters. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, travel, photocopy, photography, transcription, materials, publishing and an accountant’s fee.
For a two-phase workshop enquiring into the design and editing practices of Bengali Little Magazines, at a time when digital designing and desktop publishing is becoming the norm. Young practitioner participants will work together with mentor experts to create new aesthetic experiments. The outcomes of the grant will be a book and an exhibition from the materials of the workshop.
For working with the collections at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sanghralaya (IGRMS), Bhopal. The IGRMS is an ethnographic museum which demonstrates the aesthetic qualities of India's traditional life styles, local knowledge and mores, and cautions the people against unprecedented destruction of ecology, environment, local values, customs, etc. Rathin would like to explore, through his visual vocabulary, the relationship between an ethnographic object and a displaced community that is at odds with the traditional ways of life and living. The outcome will be an exhibition of objects from the museum, interspersed with new artworks that Barman will create, based on the conversations and memories of people he has interviewed from the community
For a fellowship that enables research into the archives of Hemango Biswas with particular focus on the music, communication and collaboration between the two icons of the Assam IPTA movement, Hemango Biswas and Bhupen Hazarika between the 1940s and part of the1960s. The research will focus on the period during the linguistic riots in Assam in 1960, and unearth the important contribution that these two musicians made in confronting the conflict. The outcomes will be a monograph, and a CD/DVD recording of three important songs with genre-specific instruments and other political songs by Biswas and Hazarika.
For a grant supporting the creation of multiple artistic interpretations of Nabarun Bhattacharya’s novel Lubdhak. A graphic novel which will serve as a script for a feature length stop motion animation film later, will be created in the process. An electronic version of the graphic novel and a prototype of a short film for the animation will also be made. Grant funds will cover travel and food costs, material, props and lighting costs, professional fees, studio rental, documentation and an accountant’s fee.
