Sangam: The Story of Two Visual Traditions
Date
Credits
- Ishan Khosla 16 Designer
- Ishan Khosla 16 Art Director
- Bijay Kumar Bairiki Artist
- Sangam: the Australia India Design Platform Designer
- Naina Jain
Clients
Techniques
- drawing 51
- illustration 132
- Sewn 12
Sangam (confluence): A fusion of Indian and Australian visual languages captured on a palm leaf scroll in collaboration with Bijay Kumar Bariki from Raghurajpur, Odisha.
This artwork, featuring lettering loosely inspired by Australian Aboriginal art, symbolizes cross-cultural collaboration.
For Sangam, Delhi, we created a palm leaf scroll or Chitra Pothi also called Tal-Patra-Chitra—which is one of the oldest book structures in the Indian subcontinent. Etched like one would on stone, these palm leaf scrolls are completely manual—from the collection of the leaves and their preparation into pages, which are then handstitched and finally hand inscribed.
The palm leaf scrolls made by Bijay Kumar combine Indian and Australian visual languages. The lettering is inspired on aboriginal art with organic concentric lines. There is also a narrative we created through the tal patra circles, that tells the story of an Australian designer meeting an Indian artisan and how they try to work together.
Permanent collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia
