santokba

SANTOKBA
A folk artist from Gujarat
18 - 30 July 2005

Santokba's phenomenal emergence as a painter of cloth & paper scrolls - extending up to 120 feet or more, came about after an accidental viewing in 1977 of an exhibition of folk paintings in Mumbai.

Recalling the Kirtankars & Kathakars that she had heard in her childhood, in a village near the Gir forest of Saurashtra, a sudden urge was born within her, to translate it all on paper or cloth, and thus emerged a new folk artist.

Santokba's challenge was of no mean proportion. In 1989 she started on a marathon task of painting a cloth scroll 1200 metres long telling the whole story of the Mahabharata and challenging Yama at the same time in case he came to take her away! The scroll was later exhibited during the Jawaharlal Nehru birth anniversary celebrations in 1991.

Whilst painting with the earth & local village colours, Santokba sings songs & bhajans appropriate to the episodes she is painting on her scrolls.

Having embibed the Ramayana & Mahabharata thanks to the oral tradition of India having helped her memorize these tales, Santokba has had no difficulty in recounting them through her visual language, unique to herself. Her's is a story of inspiration to women from any walk in life…she is the star that started shining in the evening of her life!