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Consecutive Britto workshops among adibaashi people
Under the rubric 'Prantiker Prakritajan', which translates as The Archaic Man from the Margins, Britto Art Trust instituted a series of art workshops centered on the theme of collaboration between modern-day artists and the adibashis or indigenous peoples highlighting organic living and nature that presides over their lives.
The venues were of decisive importance. The first – a seaside village in Galachipa, in the southern coastal area of the country – saw some nine young artists collaborating with the Rakhain community members of the area for a week working in and around the sea beach and in the village as well. The occasion also saw the revival of a long-forgotten festival in the presence of the artists with their enthused participation. The week-long workshop that consisted of a number of events including the actual production of artworks, created a diverse milieu that cut across communities and peoples.
The second venue – in the northern part of Bangladesh – saw the participation of some 21 artists who were mostly students and teachers of the Department of Fine Arts, Rajshahi University.
The artists transplanted themselves in the villages of Beldanga and Shahanapara of Godagari upazila, Rajshahi, to spend four days in communion with the Santal and Orao community members with the aim of touching on the living traditions of those people and to try and retool their artistic language from the academic diktats to an organic way of understating. There was an Open Studio Day at the end of the workshop and enthusiasts from nearby villages as well as Rajshahi University flocked to appreciate the artworks dispersed in venues across two villages. The last day was also marked by a number of performances by some artists.
According to Britto release, Prantiker Prakritajan, a series of workshops, was conceived after the success of a five-day workshop in Dokhola village, inhabited by the Mandis (or Garo), in the Modhupur forest, 2009, where a group of 25 artists from Dhaka participated.