Kalamkari is a reminder of how art is integral to our sense of welfare, and how it very deeply is rooted to our culture and tradition, knowingly or unknowingly.
Art has always had its unique ability to connect us with our humanity and our history—Kalamkari is a distinctly Indian craft, tied to our iconography and mythologies. It is one the most traditional art forms in our culture.
Kalamkari is an art form of storytelling was first used to portray scenes from sacred texts such as the Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavatam. These paintings were often used as decorative backdrops in temples, depicting the stories of deities. Today, these subjects are still common in Kalamkari, as well as other spiritual and ancient symbols.
The colours used in Kalamkari are exquisite earthy tones which are usually dyed with the use of reds, blues, greens, yellows, mustard and browns. The unique feature of the Kalamkari art is that it makes use of only natural colours or vegetable dyes. Natural dyes are used to paint colors in Kalamkari art that are extracted by blending jiggery, iron fillings and water; and it is used for outlining sketches.
The colours used in the Kalamkari paintings are as historic and traditional as they come, with raw materials such as dried unripe fruit and milk to make the ‘mordant,’ charcoal sticks, black kasimi liquid, alum solution and natural pigments in red, indigo and yellow.
Women are depicted in shades of yellow, gods in blue and demons in red and green. The use of synthetic dyes is strictly forbidden and thus every colour is procured using natural means. Red dye is obtained from madder roots, yellow from pomegranate seeds or mango bark, and black from myrobalam roots.
In today’s day and age, the way Kalamkari is represented is not with the same symbolism as it is in the traditional and religious context. It is more about the pattern itself than the colours of the characters and the natural dyes. A lot has changed since the birth of Kalamkari but it is moving with its time.
Design History 