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Sita Haran (Abduction of Sita from the Ramayan)

Monimala Chitrakar2014

Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)

Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
Brisbane, Australia

In Sita Haran (Abduction of Sita from the Ramayan) by Monimala Chitrakar (India c.1970s) scenes show the Ramayana (‘Rama’s journey’), Lord Rama searches for his wife Sita after she is abducted by the demon Ravana. The final frame shows the valiant bird, Jatayu, who dies attempting to rescue Sita.

Patachitra, or ‘pats’, are scroll paintings from West Bengal, intimately bound up with itinerant storytelling and songs. Historically, patachitra were cloth scrolls on which mythological or epic stories were painted as a sequence of frames. The artists (patua) would travel from village to village, slowly unrolling the scrolls and singing the stories. Patachitras have been compared to cinema frames or animation, and are said to be one of the oldest forms of audiovisual communication.

Exhibited in 'The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (APT8) | 21 Nov 2015 – 10 Apr 2016

Details

  • Title: Sita Haran (Abduction of Sita from the Ramayan)
  • Creator: Monimala Chitrakar
  • Creator Lifespan: 1970s
  • Creator Nationality: India
  • Creator Birth Place: India
  • Date Created: 2014
  • Location: India
  • Physical Dimensions: 278.5 x 56cm
  • Provenance: Purchased 2015 with funds from Rick and Carolle Wilkinson through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
  • Subject Keywords: APT8, India, Monimala Chitrakar
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: © The artist
  • External Link: Kalpa Vriksha: Contemporary Indigenous and Vernacular Art of India
  • Medium: Natural colour on mill-made paper with fabric backing

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