Traditional art by women preserves their dignity
Stephen Huyler is an art historian, cultural anthropologist, author and photographer who has spent about 37 years documenting rural womens art and identity in India. He spoke to Susmita Mukherjee:
You have been visiting India since 1971 and documenting women. What are your observations?
I have merely tried to feel the pulse of these women and given them a voice wherever possible. The books that i have written and the pictures that i have taken have drawn attention to their sociopolitical plight. The traditional art that many so zealously protect sometimes masks their unending hardships and preserves their dignity, but it is only a motif in the colourful fabric of Indian cultural diversity. I have tried to bring out the underlying conflicts in the less privileged social fabric and have been privy to many of their stories of torment. This is only a microcosm of the broader, underlying ills that define many rural and urban societal conditions.