Foregrounding the Value of Traditional Indian Crafts: Voices from the Fringe

Abstract

Craft in India is as old as the civilization itself and contributes to preserving art, culture, identity and storytelling (Dayinee and Priya 2020). The rich textiles tradition of India, with an abundance of natural resources, diverse climatic conditions and indigenous communities, have contributed to its ubiquitous and unique craft heritage. They are laden with perspectives of wellbeing and co-existence, a living heritage, expressing beauty and culture, community happiness and sustainability [1]. Indigenous communities create shared experiences within, socially transiting traditional values and identity associated with craft practices, from one generation to the next [2]. Madhavi Gandhi in her talk states, ‘All objects have a story to tell, and with objects that are handmade, the stories are personal, sometimes emotional and largely cultural’ [3]. Different crafts in India communicate unique varied embodied experiences and express emotional values. Additionally, Indian craft has emerged as a major export in recent years, proving its potential to meet global consumer demands [4]. However, India faces a paradoxical situation with reference to its crafts [2]. Craft here is often pushed outside everyday fashion practice, making going to market a challenge for artisans. Although crafts do not exist in isolation to mainstream fashion, they are often linked to other parts of the creative economy and are accompanied by a sense of pessimism, perceived as representative of a ‘sun set sector’ [2] and sometimes equated with manual labour. Contrarily, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) posits that this industry has massive potential for income generation by fostering its cultural assets (Dayinee and Priya 2020). However, as documented in the Sustainability of Rural Artisans journal, India continues to see large scale migration of many craft communities to urban centres in search of unrelated but more profitable employment opportunities [5, 6].