BENGALURU: "You give me a few words and your name, and I'll weave a story for you," said Purushotham Ramuji, a 27-year-old writer-photographer. A little away, Pavithra Mohan Naik from Sagar in Shivamogga displayed heirloom art form Chittara.
Government school children exhibited their paintings of birds on 1.5ft x 1.5ft canvases at the two-day annual habba (fest), which concluded at Bangalore International Centre (BIC) on Sunday. Digital art, photographs and illustrations - the audience could take whatever they liked at whatever price that suited them. "Take what you like, pay what you like," was how one of the exhibitors, Irene Frank, described the democratised experience for all.
Beatboxer Kevin Noel Sequeira played for passersby at the venue: "It's a great way to network and show my work to people physically present here," he said. The Indian music experience centre on the same floor had a range of instruments pre-fed into an interactive screen. One had to only plug in the headphones and go on a musical journey, sampling all instruments.
'A Hundred Hands' hosted a live session with its students and Lambani artists stitching designs on fabric. The group had started a collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences about a decade ago on a project to turn jeans into bags, recalled Sonia Dhawan, founder and trustee of A Hundred Hands.
Beneathatree educational services exhibited a women's emancipation personal archive by Srinidhi, whose mother used the typewriter for economic independence, and grandmother, the sewing machine. Madhu Kargunda, an exhibitor, gave away coconut flakes and ragi juri hittu (roasted ragi powder) to visitors, inviting them to skim through coconut-based artwork for day-to-day use, made by various farmers' collectives.
Twenty-three postcards, including 22 pieces of art from the Constitution with a couple of paragraphs from constitutional assembly debates printed on one side, sought to spread awareness about the Constitution. "The Constitution belongs to all of us and hence, the historical background of the articles of the Constitution was printed out (instead of the legalese)," Basaveshwaranagar resident and artist Vinay Kumar said about his initiative.
The habba had about 45 artists, including folk artists, musicians, dancers, buskers and poets, participating. About 26 film-makers, 15 speakers on policy, and 22 speakers on Bengaluru heritage among others were part of open-mic sessions. The event saw over 1,500 visitors.
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