Indo-U.K. project revisits cultural heritage of communities living along the Hooghly and the Thames

In a bid to strengthen cultural connections between India and Britain, the communities along the Thames in London and the Hooghly river have come together for a year-long artistic exchange programme.

Interactive walks will be conducted at 20 locations across the two rivers in September in Britain and in December in India.

Artists from both countries have been engaged in painting silk flags that will celebrate the ‘Silk River’ project. “These unique hand-painted flags are the maps of the places where the walks would be conducted. The walks along the two mighty rivers would be pivotal in opening up space for people like artists, environmentalists, historians to come together and be inspired by each others culture,” said Ali Pretty, the artistic director of Kinetika, a Britain-based organisation that is spearheading the project.

The silk scrolls were created at a residential workshop in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. Ruchira Das, founder of ThinkArts, said, “Exactly the same thing was done in the U.K., where people came up with images of their communities and 10 flags are being made based on them. The same Murshidabad silk was taken there and two ‘patachitra’ (cloth-based scroll painting) artists conducted workshops to give them a flavour of the narrative.”

The project spans 20 locations, from Murshidabad to Batanagar by the Hooghly in West Bengal and Kew Gardens to Southend by the Thames in Britain.

The silk flags created by the artists would be on display during the interactive events.

Each location by the Hooghly would be partnered with a Thames counterpart based on certain common themes such as, military links for Greenwich/Woolwich and Serampore/Barrackpore, and Howrah and Dartford for the similar looking bridges over the rivers. Bengal’s Batanagar would be paired with East Tilbury for the Bata factory at both the locations.

Inspiring connections

Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director of British Council (east and north-east India), said the walks and the scrolls would aim to celebrate the existing connection as well as inspire new connections.

“We are delighted that the project is a part of the U.K. India Year of Culture that seeks to showcase innovative and creative work from both countries, building deeper connections between communities. We hope that the two walks will really bring together the full dimension of the 20 scrolls and its connection with the corresponding communities,” Mr. Chakrabarti said.