Sonabai Rajawar, Indian Folk Artist
My Camden friend Kathleen Brown shared with me the work of a very interesting and cool Indian artist named Sonabai Rajawar, whose mud bas relief art sprung from her solitary and lonely life and escape from a mean husband that isolated her from the rest of the world...
Not allowed to go out of the house, Sonabai started out creating toys for her only child and then it blossomed into her desire to give meaning to her life and environment, expressing her creative spirit in any way she could. Using materials she found readily available around her: straw, bamboo, and clay that she sculpted and colors made from herbs, spices, vegetables and cooking oil from her kitchen, Rajawar created an incredible unique world of beauty and meaning by applying the clay mixture to the walls surrounding her: inside and out.
American art historian, photographer and cultural anthropologist Stephen Huyler devoted his life to exploring Indian art and craft throughout rural communities in India and assisted by Kathleen Brown, captivated by the uniqueness of Sonabai's work, created this thirty minute documentary about her extraordinary art. He also created a beautiful, colorful book of her work entitled Sonabai: Another Way of Seeing.
Sonabai influenced a whole new generation of folk artists in her hometown village of Puhputra, in Chattisgarha, India (although she had absolutely no interest in fame) and this unique form of bas relief to this day continues to adorn the village with gorgeous ornamentation--a true expression of the indomitable human spirit...
Advice from Kurt Vonnegut