The residency at a glance

The Sandarbh residencies and workshops focus mainly on site specific, collaborative, interactive art whereby the participants are encouraged to live and practice in Banswara, also known as Vagad region and use locally available materials and media, to create contemporary works that would communicate to the local people. Sandarbh works with the voluntary support of art practitioners and runs in collaboration with Beneshwar Lok Vikas Sansthan (BLVS), an NGO working for rural and tribal upliftment in the Banswara region.

The vernacular society and the tribal lifestyles in the region are an integral part of the Sandarbh experience, as do the geographical conditions in terms of situations and materials. Therefore in the initial phase the artists are introduced to the region through trips around the village and adjoining areas. They are thus acquainted with the local communities. The large tailor market in the village is a community of tailors that have their shops and homes integrated respectively as the front and the back sections of their houses. There exist similar other pockets in and around Partapur, such as the potters’ village with an entire community of potter families with ever member engaged in the profession. It is a unique setting with many such communities like the stone carvers, blacksmiths and jewellers.

Smaller communities like the bamboo workers reside not far from the village. The marble carvers too reside near a marble quarry situated only a few kilometers away. Being in close proximity these sites hold much potential for the artists’ projects.

Sandarbh provides the artists with basic living facilities and vegetarian meals. If any artists wish to live close to the site of their work, they negotiate with the local residents and arrange their stay at nearby homes: an option Sandarbh recommends and encourages. The artist also has access to a studio space equipped with a metal work facility that has been extensively used by the workshop and residency participants. The artists can work with different available metals, for which they also have the support of a traditional metal worker volunteering for Sandarbh.

During their stay here the artists also participate in the cultural aspects of the village, such as festivals, weddings and performances. Previous participants in the workshops have voluntarily taken active part in educational and other socially oriented activities. Sandarbh encourages such participation; which becomes an ideal ground for connection with the society while also generating opportunities for the lesser fortunate classes to orient themselves in contemporary thought, through the involvement of international artists among the local schools and self help groups.

Towards the end of the residency most artists choose to have an Open Day on which they present their works to the public.