Culture, love, laughter and gossip (2023); Woodcut print and Nakshi kantha On cotton saree. Photo Credit: Courtesy Jayata Chatterjee and Camold Colab

“This is a very Bengali thing!” Laughing at 29 -year -old Jayata Chatterjee, talking about his artistic mind. “As a small child in a Bengali house, you need to learn either dance, singing or art.”

The Bangalore-based artist found his passion quite quickly in the wood cut print-after an encounter with the works of Anubhavi artist and printmaker Surijan Das, when in class X-and chose to move as a career in the form of art. Now, after years of years of experience with medium, Chatterjee is the recipient of the Asia Arts Future (India) Awards at the Asia Arts Game Changer Awards this week, who is at the India Art Fair this week.

Jayita Chatterjee

From Bolpur in West Bengal, Chatterjee studied fine arts and printmaking from Kala Bhavan in Senticatan. And observation she was done on her daily traffic and from the university and inspired her to anchor her work in a strong element of story tell. “I noticed that there has been a lot of change in the aesthetics of the houses,” she remembers. “Every domestic object defined the class or caste of the families living in that house.”

His comments enough to interact with him to interact with the residents, and he learned, for example, that those who choose bright wall colors (like its yellow walls like your home) influenced by financial factors Were, because vivid colors last long. Such a conversation informed him about the 2017 Wood Cut Print Series, Yellow journey,

“When people share their stories with me, they are sharing their lives and travel. But, sometimes, sometimes it also becomes a bit heavy, and I struggle with the best way to portray the stories, ”shares Chatterjee, who shared the Chatterjee, who on forums like Ulsan International Woodkat Print Art Festival, South Korea Display your work; Haugesund International Festival of Relief Printing, Norway; And recently in 2024, Camold Prescott Road, Mumbai. His single, One eye insideDomestic women tracked her journey to the internal and interested in architecture for her current documentation of politics.

Jayeeta Chatterjee Chemld Colab Reserve, 2023 at work. Photo Credit: Courtesy Jayata Chatterjee and Camold Colab

Wood cut print and kantha

Chatterjee’s recent collection has focused on the lives of women in various social settings, and it naked them to include clothes in their work. “When I started documenting women, I started collecting their used sari, Dupattas And even pieces of blouse, “she explains, saying how she uses her phone to catch clear moments, and records small videos and snipites of conversations.

There is no holiday II (2023); Woodcut print on recycled cotton saree, Nakshi kantha
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Jayata Chatterjee and Camold Colab

He then again mixed the medium for the first time – preparation of woodblock, printing the design on the clothes, and sewing them like a quilt, overlated together Nakshi kantha Traditions. “I grew up seeing Kantha Sewing in my house, but I really focused on it. When I started learning crafts, I first realized how laborious the process is, ”she says. Chatterjee learned Nakshi Kantha Embroidery – From artisans in Mahidapur in Birbham district of West Bengal – a style with detailed motifs affected by religion, culture and women’s lives.

Her art highlights worldly: a woman sweeps a floor, bending a child, selling goods in a market, sorting fish and dries the fish, or women gossip on their hump. As she explains in the exhibition note An eye inside, “These homemakers do important work and still get respect, and somehow there was resonance to me because I also work at home, and people don’t even understand the work of an artist!”

Establishment view of One eye inside On Chemld Prescott Road | Photo Credit: Etiquette Camold Colab

The story is supreme

After years of working with today Nakshi KanthaChatterjee takes less than a month to complete a piece of art, which she insists, actually works faster. One of his ongoing projects is 8×16 feet. The quilt that he started last July, during his tenure at the Hampi Art Labs Residency by the JSW Foundation. Women’s lives and stories made the subject of this huge piece at JSW’s Bunkai Handloom Studio in Vijayanagar, Karnataka.

Jibon ghore o baire 4 (Life at home and outside), 2024; Woodcut print on rice paper. Photo Credit: Courtesy Jayata Chatterjee and Camold Colab

So, what comes for Chatterjee first: medium or story? “The first thing I think is a subject. I also think of representing the conversations that I have done with people in the form of sound waves, which I can then transfer to the cloth Nakshi kantha“Chatterjee says, seeing that some stories are very sensitive, personal or complex, just to play loud.” If I am working with someone, my goal is to portray the special moment that I am my Share with them in work. “

Writer and theater artist are located between Bangalore and Delhi.