Farid Chitrakar

These Patua are the work of a young artist from Midnapur, a village not far from Kolkota, Farid Chitrakar. In this area, there are more than a hundred to work as a traveling painter that this term refers to Patua. Their paintings are made on sheets of paper, on average 40 cm wide, sewn to each other.

Their length can reach up to several meters. In order to be able to carry them easily these long strips of paper are rolled. Equipped with several painted rollers, the Patua goes from village to village. In the center of these villages, Patua brings together the inhabitants and progressively unwinds one of these scrolls while singing the painted history.

The Patua live from the alms that the villagers give them. The themes of these rolls are multiple. They can be of sacred as well as profane inspiration. Thus we find scrolls on the great Hindu epics but also on news topics such as the death of Mother Teresa or the attacks of 11 September. Finally, taking advantage of this information support in countries where few people can read, the regional authorities use the Patua to relay topics of general interest such as the fight against AIDS.

The theme treated by Farid Chitrakar in these scrolls is that of Yama Pat. 'Lord Yama' is the prince of darkness, we see him accompanied by these henchmen, demons, punish the dead on their arrival in hell. Living colors reinforce the spectacular appearance of these painted rolls.