New Delhi, Jan 2 (IANS)The flavour of Africa lives in its colourful arts, crafts, people and exotic landscape. Eighteen African craftspeople from five countries — Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda – are in the capital with a showcase of their
handicrafts Dec 1-15 at the 25th annual Dastkari Haat Crafts Bazar.
The spread of the African crafts at the fair, which was inaugurated by Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit Monday, includes bead work, leather craft, embroidery, woven ware, jewelry and metal ware in a riot of colours and traditional designs.
The African showcase, ‘Handcrafting Promises’ for ‘Crafts Skill Development and Natural Dye Workshop’, has generated interest with crowds thronging the five-odd vends and an open air exhibition that are displaying the wares.
The crafts exchange between India and Africa at Dilli Haat (INA) is being supported by the union ministry of external affairs.
The Dastkari Haat Samiti, a non-profit crafts forum founded by culture activist and promoter Jaya Jaitly, is implementing it as a follow action to the promise made by India to help the African crafts sector at the India-Africa Forum Summit in Ethiopia in 2011.
Dastkari Haat Samiti founder Jaya Jaitly said the exchange activity includes skill training workshops for the African craftspeople in basketry, leather beadwork, embroidery, weaving and natural dying.
The 18-member African crafts delegation is led by six resource persons — Eugenie Drake from South Africa, Rahab Naisotuae from Kenya, Jennifer Mulli from Kenya and Kinene Nusulah from Uganda.
‘Handcrafting Promises came about as a follow on event of the India-Africa summit in Ethiopia in 2011 which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. We took 20 Indian craftspeople to Ethiopia and they presented 30 of their craftspersons,’ Jaya Jaitly told IANS.
‘The group of 50 interacted for three days to address issues like gender empowerment, organisation building, natural dye workshop and skill training – sectors in which the African side wanted India to help the continent develop its arts and crafts,’ Jaitly said.
‘What we are doing is implementing the ministry’s programme as a follow-on action to the promise of help by India. The ministry of external affairs has sponsored and funded the Handcrafting Promises programme,’ Jaitly said.
The crafts activist said the most important component of the programme was natural dying because chemical dying was still common in Africa.
‘Four Indian dying experts from different corners of the country will teach the African craftspeople how to extract colours from natural substances and ways to apply them,’ Jaitly said.
Rights and environment activists like Vandana Shiva, Sandeep Dikshit and Purnima Rai (Crafts Council) will address the African delegation on empowerment of gender in crafts as the bulk of the African traditional crafts trade is controlled by women.
Former diplomat Veena Sikri, also a crafts activist, will speak on the relationship between India and Africa, Jaitly said.
‘The programme is spread over four years between 2011-2014. It is
meant to foster people-to-people contact between India and Africa and allow a wider display for their crafts,’ Ravi Bangar, joint secretary in the ministry of external affiars for West Africa, told IANS.
According to leading designer Ritu Kumar, who attended the inauguration, ‘the material and mediums used by the African craftspeople like beads, shells, embroidery, weaving and bright dyes are very common to India’.
‘All traditional cultures have points of similarities in their crafts,’ Kumar told IANS.
One hundred and ninety craftspeople from across India are also particating in the fair.
The Indian highlights of the fair includes Ringal bamboo, Aipan painting, looms from Uttarakhand, camel belt weaving demonstration from Ahemdabad, ‘ari’ work from Gujarat, ‘gabba’ craft from Kashmir, Alamgarh pottery from UP and patch work from Rajasthan.
