Artisan community of Kumortuli, Green Tara Initiative Charitable Trust, Culture Monks, Participatory Publishing Praxis, Francesca Fini with support from Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, present ‘Kumortuli Rising’, as a part of ‘One Billion Rising 2017’.

“The smell of wet clay from Ganges and other rivers, the dry crackling of straw beneath your feet, the criss-cross patterns of bamboo spread out within the narrow confines of a ramshackle, eight-by-eight studio blend seamlessly to create the traditional  homes of the artisans where Goddess Durga takes ‘birth.’ The place is called Kumortuli. For the average Indian who is a stranger to Calcutta, the name Kumortuli may not ring any bell of nostalgia.” – Santasree Chaudhuri founder www.greentaraindia.org

One Billion Rising is a global movement initiated by eminent feminist & author of the celebrated “Vagina Monologue” Eve Ensler. This is a protest movement against any kind of violence on women, in broader sense on any gender. This is an all inclusive movement and art forms such as dance, song, theater are primarily used as tools to protest. Every year on 14th February worldwide.
This year we are very happy & fortunate to have been invited by the artists community of Kumortuli to celebrate this day there. We celebrate in this year’s edition the ‘Women Artists’ & their struggles and achievements. We are also very fortunate to have with us Francesca Fini, who is a significant performance artist from Italy & has worked at will be engaged in further engagements with the community at Kumortuli. More about Francesca Fini at https://www.francescafini.com/
This engagement with the women artists of Kumortuli is a part of an ongoing process which was initiated by Participatory Publishing Praxis, which was founded by Madhubanti Roychoudhury. The process is bringing the women artists of Kumartuli together to create a book and in the process address key issues which is affecting them and indeed the community at large.
This event has been initiated by Green Tara Initiative Charitable Trust founder Santasree Chaudhuri, www.greentaraindia.org who has worked tirelessly for the upholding of women’s right and to enable a better life for them & has started to work with the women artists of Kumortuli to address their needs and problems.
It has been the endeavor of Culture Monks, to encounter the space of Kumortuli and introduce various interdisciplinary & cross disciplinary influences, through interventions such as events, joint productions and workshops, to spark of a discourse on contemporary arts & aesthetics among the craftsmen from this area.
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The schedule of program for this day Feb 14, 2017 is here :
4 pm : Kumortuli Walk photo walk conducted by the young women artists of Kumortuli
6 pm : One Billion Rising Celebration
7: 30 pm : Screening of ‘Wombs’, by Francesca Fini with live music by Pradip Chatterjee. Courtesy the Italian Embassy Culture Centre, New Delhi & Vertex Art Gallery (UK).
8 :00 pm : Staging of ‘Digambarim : The Body Alone’ – a devised performance with Pradip Chatterjee, Vidyapati Chakraborty, Janardan Ghosh & artists from Kumortuli
8 : 30 pm onwards : Open Stage
Of course all are welcome to the day and we look forward to seeing you on this day. Should you have any questions, please do write to [email protected]