Living Art Festival
Art that lives. Art that breathes. Art that brings life to people all around. That’s what the Living Art Festival is all about according to me.
The Living Art Festival happened on the 3rd 4th and 5th of January 2020 in the district of Majuli, Assam. The event attracted a lot of artists from all around the world and rightly so as the art displayed and discussed there has never been done in the history of northeast India. Presently in its second edition, the festival celebrates art and gives a platform to the artist who is not always represented by galleries or formal events. The most unique thing about the festival is that it gives a chance to the local folks to showcase their art and culture as well. The team made sure that kids from Majuli participated in the festival, helped out with the artists, and also helped tourists go in and around the place. The kids became so familiar with everyone that by the end of the festival, they became a part of the living art team. Local folk singers, storytellers, and craftsmen were also invited and asked to show their work which left people in awe.
The architecture department of North East Hill University also was a part of Living Art this year. The batch was headed by Ar. Ankur Choudhury and Ar. Sneha Doijad is both an urban designer and a mentor of the team. Ar. Raghunandan Bung, an architect from Bangalore also accompanied the team and helped out during the research. The first part of the workshop was to display architectural artwork of parts of Majuli done by the 2nd year juniors of NEHU. The second part of the workshop was a deep study of a Mishing Village located in Chitadorchuk. The study was all about co-existence and how people live with nature without disturbing and hampering its flow. Sketches, artworks, paintings, models, working drawings, etc. were made for the study and submitted to the teachers in charge. The main goal of the study was to deeply understand the connection between nature and man and how we can live comfortably with basic amenities that do not hamper nature in any way. After the work was done, we were told that the study that we did will form the base layer of the study that will be conducted throughout the year which the whole team of North Eastern Hill University, Shillong will be a part of.
The Living Art Festival did not only help bring out underrated artists but was also truly a blessing in disguise for the students at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. It taught us new ways of living, helped us get detox from our usual life, and made us think about the possibilities of living in co-existence with nature.
At last, special thanks to the whole team of the Living Art Festival for making this festival a successful one. And also my thanks to Ar. Duhita Mahanta for her beautiful article.
2 Comments
This is nice.
Thank u bro