India

dancers showcase intricately decorated water jugs during dance festival

In Northwest India, the State of Gujarat is a vast coastal region filling the Kathiawar Peninsula, bordered by Pakistan to the North and the Arabian Sea to the west. Here, the old and the new exist side by side - a center of both ancient history and of rapid industrialization. 

Dancers at the annual Navratri dance festival.

Each year, thousands of spectators from around the world travel to Gujarat to join in the lavish splendor of the Navratri, an annual dance festival held October through November.

Navratri, meaning “nine nights,” is a celebration dedicated to the nine forms of the goddess Gurda.

Splendor of the Navratri annual dance festival

Hand Embroidery

Hundreds of dancers gather each night in vibrant costumes of silk and gold. Shimmering with mirrors and sequins, the crowd performs the garba, moving as one in a captivating synchronized circle.

The rhythm of hands clapping and drumming on dhols carries through the night air like an exuberant heartbeat, a backdrop for the peals of laughter from audiences of folksy bhavai performances.

One textile art deeply connected to the region is the practice of rogan painting. Once nearly lost to time, the one-time embroidery alternative has seen a recent resurgence in popularity; now, this hundreds-year-old technique is practiced by just one artisan family. Thick, sticky, and shiny, the viscous paint is made with oil from hand-pounded castor seeds and vivid powdered vegetable pigments.Earthen pots hold rich yellows, reds, blacks, blues, oranges and greens, stored with water to prevent drying out. Elaborate natural and geometric designs are applied to half of the fabric with a stylus or a kalam, a flat-ended iron rod; then, the fabric is folded in half to create a perfectly mirrored print.

Rogan Painting

Gujarat is, in many ways, a contradiction. Even in its geography, it is a land of contrasts: salt deserts, arid grasslands, and wet fertile plains. Ornate, exquisitely-carved temples are a reverent counter to bustling manufacturing plants. The drape of resplendent fabrics echoes  winding highways through dense urbanization.

Through this dichotomous identity, Gujarat has borne a unique art and culture unlike anywhere else in the world.

Rogan artist shows completed wall handing at door of his studio.