Kumortuli Rising – A Look at Woman Empowerment

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February 23, 2017

/ By / Kolkata

Housing the idol-making artisan community, Kumortuli in the northern part of Kolkata usually draws attention during the Durga Puja, an annual religious festival in West Bengal. However, for the ‘One Billion Rising’ movement , the women artisans from here collaborated with other non-governmental organisations to stand up to end atrocities against women.

Green Tara Initiative Charitable Trust, Culture Monks, Participatory Publishing Praxis and Francesca Fini with support from Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, presented ‘Kumortuli Rising’, as a part of ‘One Billion Rising 2017’.

In dimly-lit shanties, these artists explained to us the elaborate process of creating idols, where visitors gathered to hear the experiences they had in a male-dominated industry. Embracing the various roles of being a woman, these creators and nurturers introduced us to their children, among whom were daughters, which truly epitomises ‘Devi’ herself.

The day closed with the staging of ‘Digambarim: The Body Alone’, a performance highlighting the strength of a woman through the trials and tribulations of her life. The question that prevails, though, through our stay in Kumortuli is whether goddesses are being created here, or are the creators the actual goddesses, which we fail to see or acknowledge.

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