"People didn't like Kalamkari as much as they do now," she recalled."
"It goes back to ... pre-colonial, pre-Hindu temple patronage," Shah explained. "There have been histories of Kalamkari written by lower-class people, people who didn't have a voice in society. I think about who the people are who don't have a voice today, and how do we safeguard their stories."
"The practice of kalamkari storytelling hardly exists in India anymore," Shah said, having spent over a decade with artisans and weavers in the country."
Young professionals in Brooklyn learn natural dyes and bamboo pens used in Kalamkari, practicing techniques from Andhra Pradesh long used for tapestries and saris. Traditional artisans have passed these methods down for generations, and Kalamkari has been introduced to New York communities by practitioners who were sometimes unfamiliar with the surrounding culture. An artist with a background in luxury Indian textiles organized months of workshops at local community centers, where more than 30 participants, many from queer and marginalized communities, collaborated to create a communal Kalamkari story cloth titled 'At Home in Brooklyn.' Few artisans in India continue Kalamkari as a storytelling medium.
Read at India Currents
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