A unique folk art of story telling, Patta Chitra, practiced by a handlful landless labourers in West Bengal and Orissa made its way to the three-day animation festival Chitrakatha hosted by the National Institute of Design (NID) recently.

This graphic form of story telling was prevalent in India much before the concept of animation evolved here. The paintings are made with vegetable colours and it takes a minimum of 12 days to two months to make such a strip depending on the size.

In an attempt to revive the age-old art form and bring it to this part of the country, the institute had got in touch with one such family in Midnapore district of West Bengal to put up an exhibition-cum-workshop for the students.

About 25 families in Midnapore district still practice these paintings and put them on exhibitions for five to six months. Rest of the year, the get engaged in farming for a living. At times, foreigners visit these exhibitions to pick up these paintings at high rates.

“Themes vary from mythological topics to imaginary themes to world affairs like terror attacks like Akshardham attack, Ahmedabad blasts, Gujarat riots, and the Mumbai terror attack. Foreigners are keener on strips on current affairs. Each narrative strip has a folk song to go with it,” said Khandu Chitrakar, who is holding the exhibition and Patta Chitra workshop at NID. Khandu, who learnt the art form from his father, was first recognised 20 years ago by the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre at Shantiniketan. His wife, Radha Chitrakar, also excels in this traditional art form.

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