Plant Pot, India June 2010
The Bearable Lightness of the Mothman’s Being :
journeying with Tony Knox’s alter ego By Mukherjee. P

The Chinese flying lantern which Tony Knox procured from a pound shop (as opposed to the inflationary cost of 2 pounds which is the going rate of the Chinese lanterns in the Chinese market in Liverpool) shop has this mundanely interesting manual printed on the black polythene bag of the maker (ITP imports WF17 9LU-who positions the 20 minute lantern in the marketplace as this “quieter alternative” to firecrackers).
The safety precautions state that:
1: Make sure that you familiarise yourself fully with the instructions provided and do not release within five miles of an airport
2: Children must not be left unattended with the lanterns and care should be used when it flies around dry crops
3: Ensure that trees are not in flight path and wind is not stronger than 5 mph
4: Always keep fire extinguishers or water nearby and
5: If you plan to let them off at a beach location then please inform the coast guard of your intentions so this does not incur a call out

Is this a war manual of the peaceful times or the peace manual for the war-like times? And why would Mothman want a 20-minute levitation...probably to look at the world from a wide angle lens of compassion which the groundedness always do not ensure..

By the way Mothman is not a caped crusader. Nor is he a pop-hero or an insider-outsider of a meditative-profane landscape. So then who is he? I would say an interventionist, a shape-shifter and a constant reminder of our displacement. Whether it is the loneliness of hung art in a Battersea power station or the beautiful-yet grim landscape of the pyramids or at the village of Pingla in West Bengal where hunger, fascination for Spiderman with Bengali sub-titles, arsenic drinking water and pre-paid mobile re-charge cards exist cheek-by-jowl.

In this south Delhi gallery space of the Lokayukta, the Mothman has decided to stage an oxymoron. On one hand, the artist Tony Knox has created a mandala like space where patachitra artistes are grappling with their recollections of the Mothman fairy-tale as envisioned and shaped by them. On the other hand, that crafted mythology is also tinged with irony. The irony or the dry wit that makes folk artistes so semiotically evolved (unlike the manicured cleverness of urban art where implied sub-text dominates the accidental sub-text).....and that potent black humour is reflected in the mandala or even the painted circus-of-the-round.
This story of the mandala like any logbook of a bohemian/traveller/drifter/ship-wrecked sailor has neither any beginning nor any end. It is about the mothman who stumbles on to a village landscape-negotiates the paddy fields-encounters layers of physical and spiritual darkness-and then sees his reflection on the moon-he is re-affirmed that reflections can indeed be shaped-and goes back to the landscape re-energised-soon after as he wanders across the paddy field both the images of bounty and replenishment stalks him and there he is like a true subject of the mandala spinning eternally on this axis of complete satisfaction and half-fulfilment....

So would the Mothman’s lanterns fly....yes it would...with decorated (and not decorative) drawing of the caped insider sitting underneath the tree, becoming the ape-super ape-the intellect ape of our times and of course becoming the middle-of-the-road figure that stands in the cross-section of tribal mythology and the Warholish burlesque
The Mothman stalks the landscape....he becomes the lizard, blizzard, limp, blimp and profuse both in his decadence and modernity.
And Tony Knox furiously sips his mineral water grappling with the intense Delhi heat (the unrelenting gust of warm winds mixed with the Konica air cooler breeze inside the Hauz Khas gallery) giving him company.....
......even the Mothman needs to quench his mythical thirst
(Mr Mukherjee is one of the leading alternative theatre directors of India and has worked on a range of performance installation. His latest performance installation this room is not my room has completed a 30 show run across five countries)

Next Stage of the Project will be a Scroll tha was made in collabration with Eight Patachitra masters this will be part of the Liverpool Bianniual 2010..

1 Anwar Chitrakar
Moth man since he’s3 full of light when the reflection of the moo in the water or should I drive in to the water or grab the moon in the sky.

2 Bahadur Chitrakar
moth man comes to the village and the people in the whole village even hancap members come out to see him in awe he as moth man wants to grab the sky

3 Manu Chitrakar
he comes to Na Maskar the village say hello and kids in ruten they say hello, passing through the village a dog comes to bite him he manages to carm it down, he sits on the back of the dog at last he carmed him Down.

4 Jaba Chitrakar
the dog chases moth man but he starts to sing and dancing even the dog calms down.

5 Yakub Chitrakar
I heard he makes a lot of mistakes, so comes to the village thinking goes into the paddy (rice field) but it not it weed.

6 Karuna Chitrakar
mothman comes to the village a thinking in the open field of what not to do and what to do (absent minded) the cow watches on goes for a long walk and Ultmeately falls asleep still thinking.

7 Baku Chitrakar
moth man comes to the village as the children where suppose to go to school, but moth man tried to convince them that he was the teacher ! and that they didn’t need to go to school the children didn’t believe him

8 Suman Chitrakar
come to the village girls like him and wants to marry him and like him, the scarf symbolise marriage.

FolkNest artist Tony Knox Residency in West Bengal, India
Patachitra, an ancient folk visual art of Bengal, is appreciated by art lovers all over the world for its effortless style of drawings, colours, lines and space usage. The word Pata derived from the Sanskrit word Patta means cloth. Patuas or Chitrakars are the most popular among folk painters. Since they paint Pata, they are known as Patuas. At the beginning Patuas used to paint on clothes.. Then came the Pata on leaves of palm tree. Later on the Patuas started painting on papers. Even today the Patuas paint on papers but is pasted on a piece of cloth. They are also known as Chitrakar, Pattikar, Pattidar and Mistri.

Patuas do not just paint, they also sing as they unfurl the painting scroll to show it to the audience. These songs are known as Pater Gaan. The songs are composed by the Patuas themselves. Presently however, the painting itself is better known without its musical form. Patuas generally use natural colours, which they procure from various trees, leaves, flowers and clays. Nowadays many of them use the colours sold in the market.

Patachitra belongs to a folk painting tradition dating back to thousands of years, starting with the ancient people of Austro Asiatic Culture. Specific dates as to verify its origin has not been found but Patachitra has been mentioned in Puranas, epics, ancient literatures and historical descriptions. The style of painting is similar to the cave paintings of Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Ajanta. ‘Patuas’ and ‘Chitrakars’ have been referred to in literary works dating back to more than two thousand five hundred years. Some researchers opine that ‘Patashilpa’ was originally an art form of the Santhals (tribal community). It was popular among Hindu tribes like Santhals, Hos, Munda, Juangs and Kherias who painted ‘Patachitras’ depicting the birth of their first ancestors Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Burhi; how they had seven sons and seven daughters and how these seven brothers were married to their sisters. With the growing influence of Buddhism, the Patuas embraced the faith. Buddhist kings and monks made extensive use of scroll paintings to preach Buddhism and showing of Patachitra probably spread to Bali, Java, Sri-Lanka, Malaysia and Tibet. Between the 11th – 13th centuries when Hinduism was revived, the paintings were harked back to Hindu mythology. With Muslim invasions, Islam spread and the Chitrakars became followers of Islam. However they did not reveal their religion, until a couple of decades ago as they were earning their living by singing songs in praise of Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
Many eminent patuas of Tamluk, Kalighat, Tribeni, Birbhum, Kandi, Katwa, Murshidabad, Howrah, Medinipur and Hooghly had their own styles or Gharanas but those have gone into oblivion with the passage of time. Likewise Purana based Pata of Birbhum, Folk based Pata of Medinipur and the Gharanas of Contai, Tamluk and Kakdwip are also cannot be found anymore.
Styles
Patas can be painted in two different styles- Jarano Pata and Chouko Pata. The size of a Pata generally varies from one to one and half feet in width and three to twenty five feet in length. The ‘Jarano’ or ‘Gutano’ pat means a scroll depicting a story serially in picture frames. It is about one to three feet wide and ten to twenty feet long, according to the length of the story, and the two ends are attached to two bamboo sticks. The ‘Chauka Pat’ is smaller in size and square in dimension. The Chauka canvas is used for painting one particular deity or a mythical or social subject. The brush was originally made of a bamboo stick and goat hair. The colours are extracted from natural herbs and plants.
Themes are
Mythological: The mythological Patas depict stories about Indian mythology based on Ramayana, Mahabharata, Lord Krishna’s childhood and also from the Puranas.
Ritualistic: Jadab Patakars of Santhal society paints three kinds of Patas. They are
Pouranik that shows the doctrine of creation, Paraloukik Pata shows the doctrine of
sin or the pain of life and the nirvana or salvation and the Maharaja Pata that shows
tracing the missing persons. Chakkhudaan Pata comes under Paraloukik Pata. When a
person dies the Jadab Patakars show the Chakkhudaan Pata. According to them the
spirit of the dead is full of sin and is in a painful condition. If eyes are painted in the
Pata as an offering, the pain of the spirit will be released.
Contemporary: The Patuas of Purba and Paschim Medinipur nowadays make Pata on various topics and issues like Swadhinata (Independence) Pata, Saheb pat, Cinema Pata, Family Planning Pata, Drug Abuse Pata, Communal Harmony Pata. They are also painting on social issues like killing of brides, dowry problem, mass education, small saving schemes. The Patuas used to earn their living by displaying the Patas in villages from morning till evening. Nowadays, however the Patuas are shifting to other professions. They are moving to other professions. Some of them are making different household and decorative products with Patachira.
Eminent painter Jamini Roy was influenced by the styles of patuas of Beliatore of Bankura. The influence of patuas can be seen in the works of Bengal School. The only family that still carries the traditional Dasavatar (Ten incarnation of Vishnu) Pata cards of yesteryears is the Fouzdar family of Bishnupur in Bankura
Patachitra Journey with banglanatak dot com , Starting 2004, banglanatak dot com has an initiative ‘making art a livelihood’ and works with 3200 folk artists across 6 districts of West Bengal covering 6 art forms (Chau, Jhumur, Patachitra, Gambhira, Domni and Baul-Fakiri), including 311 Patachitra artists of Purba and Paschim Medinipur, who have formed 29 Self Help Groups. In Dec 2009, Contact Base (banglanatak dot com) started a project Ethno-magic Going Global (EGG), supported by the European Union, aiming at developing creative enterprise at grassroots, based on intangible cultural heritage of rural and tribal communities. Patachitra is one of the six art forms covered in the project. IICTD (London Metropolitan University) and Planet Art Exchange (Liverpool) are partners in this Project. UNESCO New Delhi Office is Project Associate.

A few important steps are already taken as part of this unique project supported by the European Union:
• Health Insurance is done for all 3200 artists and their families.
• 6 folk artists owned Resource Centres coming up, including for Patachitra at Naya village in Pingla Block, Paschim Medinipur district.
• Patachitra artist as part of 10 member team participated in International fair on ICH held in Schenzhen, China in May 2010 .
• Patachitra songs are digitally recorded (audio and video). 740 Baul Fakiri songs are also getting recorded as well as Jhumur songs and dances.
• Research aiming at development of Cultural Tourism covering folk art villages in Bengal is being undertaken by IICTD.
• Exchange & Collaboration are integral part of our project process:
? In Jan 2009, we brought a group of 6 new media artists from London to have workshop with Patachitra artists of Medinipur, followed by an exhibition “POTential” at Kolkata. In Apr 2010, we again invited 4 new media artists from London and did POTential II.
? In March, 2010 , a team of four Bauls and Fakirs enthralled audience at London, Liverpool and Dundee.
? In April 2010, we also brought 2 musicians from London and 1 from New York and invited a Jazz group KENDRAKA from Kolkata to have workshop with 25 musical instrumentalists from the districts (Purulia, Bankura, Nadia and Malda). After a 7 days workshop, the team performed “Folk Orchestra” at G D Birla Sabhaghar. This ‘FOLK ORCHESTRA’ team will perform at Alliance Franchise, Delhi on Jun 26 at 6:30 pm.
? Now, we have organized POT Plant (Workshop: Jun 21-25 followed by Exhibition on Jun 26-30 at Lokayata: Mulk Raj Anand Centre, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi 110016), with artists
(Tony Knox and Ruth Dillon) from Planet Art Exchange, Liverpool. Participating Patachitra artists are: Yakub, Manu, Karuna, Jaba, Anwar and Bahadur from Pingla; Suman from Daspur and Baku from Chandipur. Ms. Moa Chiba, Programme Specialist for Culture, UNESCO New Delhi Office, will inaugurate the Exhibition on Jun 26 at 6 pm.

All images Copyright of the artist Tony Knox © 2009. Not to be reproduced without prior permission.