Thirty-seven year old Rabi Biswas is a unique artist who has made it his life`s mission to document and uphold a folk art form that is traditionally a woman`s domain - the alpona or floor paintings of rural Bengal. Belonging to a farming family, Rabi`s story is exceptional.
Born in the village of Aurobindonagar in Nadia district, Rabi used to be interested in drawing from a very young age. To encourage him, his father hired an art teacher from a neighbouring village, who was also well versed in folk arts. He was only twelve years old when he developed a keen interest in alpona, as he observed his maternal grandmother, Sumitra Mondal at work, with fascination. Soon, he started visiting neighbouring villages as well to view the alponas being practised there. His first attempt at alpona was the drawing of an owl, which he proudly brought back to his grandmother. It was then that she took him under her wing and started to teach him traditional alpona art. Rabi was an avid learner and soon mastered a wide range of alponas, learning what variety of rice to use and so on.
Around this time, Rabi recalls, that the winds of change had reached his village: women were spending less time with rural rituals - brotos and alponas - and preferred to be watching shows on cable TV instead or earning money by cutting betel nuts. Therefore, when a festival or ritual was to take place, they preferred to hand over alpona making duties to their brothers. Before long, he found that he was willy nilly being made the keeper of the traditional alpona art form by the women. A few other young men in his village were also inspired by him. Of course, the brotos or rituals (or what is left of them) that accompany the alpona, continue to be the woman`s domain.
In 2007, the West Bengal government was looking for an alpona artist for an exhibition in Delhi. But strangely, no rural woman could be identified. It was then that someone recommended Rabi. Excited at this opportunity, and with the support and blessings of his grandmother, Rabi registered as a folk artist, and began his journey. It was at this exhibition where he displayed all the alponas that he had mastered, that a gentleman from Kolkata, impressed with the young artist, gifted him a book on Brotos of Bengal. The book was an eye opener for young Rabi who was only in class XI at this time.
From then onwards, traditional alponas became Rabi’s life’s mission. He started frequenting libraries and eventually found his way to the Rabindra Bharati University library at Kolkata and discovered an early edition of Abanindranath Tagore`s book on alponas of East Bengal (not the Visva Bharati publication). He found to his delight that he could identify many of them and began to delve even further. He shared his discovery with members of the renowned literary academy, Bangiya Sahitya Parishat, who suggested that he should start documenting alponas for a book they would publish.
Though only just out of school, Rabi had collected alponas for about 40 different brotos. Recognizing his passion and his talent, he was given enormous support by academicians and government officials who facilitated his membership to numerous libraries across the state, even though his lack of educational qualifications would not normally have permitted this. His book, Lakshmir Paa was eventually published by Charchapada in January 2014.
Rabi went on to win a scholarship to study at Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan. He has since completed his masters in Art History from the same institution, while continuing to research and practise his art. Using the proceeds from his sales of alponas at fairs and exhibitions, he managed to fund his studies and that of his brother. Since a few years ago, he has begun to display his art at the Shonibarer Haat at Sonajhuri in Santiniketan every weekend
Rabi has come a long way since. Beginning with participating in fairs and exhibitions in Kolkata and other venues within India, he has also held numerous workshops. He was invited to showcase his art alongside a performance by the renowned Parbati Das Baul and her group, first at the Melbourne Art Center in Australia, the following year at Budapest, Hungary and in 2019, Paris. His collaboration with Parboti Das Baul started as a result of a workshop we had organised for INTACH and which was reported in the media. Seeing the article in The Hindu, Parboti reached out to Rabi and there has been no looking back since!
His work has been bought by the Peerless Inn hotel group, and displayed at their restaurant, Aheli. For the Bangiya Sahitya Parishat museum, he created alponas on cloth which were then stitched together to form a false ceiling. He has decorated entire homes and during the Covid lockdown, he was invited to decorate the walls of one of the museums within the EZCC complex in Santiniketan, Srijani Shilpagram.
Rabi observes that in most villages, the medium of colour has transitioned from rice powder to khari mati (white clay) - to zinc oxide - to maida (super refined wheat flour) mixed with adhesive - and finally to stickers. Robi continues to use either rice powder or perhaps khari mati and gum extracted from the bael fruit.
Rabi has been giving permanence to his art by working on handmade paper or canvas processed with layers of cow dung and clay to give the effect of rural soil. He has also been using his art to embellish bags, coasters, T’shirts and bookmarks. In 2020, he participated in an exhibition at ICCR, Kolkata, where he attempted to utilize non-traditional material to reach out to a wider audience. He will be demonstrating his work at the Crafts Museum in Delhi later this month (March 2024).
Rabi`s popularity has spread but none of this has touched this simple boy from Krishnanagar. He remains forever indebted to his grandmother from whom he continues to learn. Meanwhile, his mission to unearth symbols and motifs of forgotten traditional Bangla alpona from remote villages in West Bengal is what keeps this remarkable young artist going.