'Artists from India will never fall short of livelihood'

Indian artists will never fall short of livelihood as the demand for Indian art is growing abroad, says UNESCO award winner Ismael Mohammed Khatri, who has found fame across the world for mastery over traditional Ajrakh block printing process.
"While the popular notion is that Indian artists grapple for means of livelihood while trying to ensure the survival of our ancient art forms, I believe if the art has survived so far, the artists will never fall short of livelihood," Khatri told PTI in an interview.
Famous across the world for his mastery over traditional Ajrakh block printing process, Khatri says, "The art of Ajrakh can be traced back to nine generations of my family. But there were not enough opportunities earlier as we have now. After the WHO released a report which pointed to the harmful effects of chemical dying of clothes which lead to skin cancer and other problems, fabrics made by the natural dyeing process have caught the fancy of the public."

Ajrakh, an art which Khatri says has been prevalent in India since the past 5000 years, takes its name from the Hindi phrase 'aaj ke din rakh' (keep it for the day), signifying the number of days more you keep the fabric in the mixture for dyeing, the better the results are.
Ajrakhpur, near Kukma in Gujarat is where the tradition of Ajrakh, famous as block printing is kept alive by the Khatri community, whose ancestors came from the Sindh region in Pakistan.
Khatri who was awarded an honorary doctorate from the De Montfort University, Leicester, UK and has also won the UNESCO Award of Excellence for handicrafts explains the process of Ajrakh printing as very detailed and time consuming procedure.

"In Ajrakh printing, the fabric is soaked in a mixture of dung, oil and water to make it soft. Then it is dried for a couple of days and then again soaked in the mixture with other natural ingredients to bleach and ready it for printing," says Khartri, who was here at Sushant School of Design for a workshop.