Stage Talks

Doing and Telling: Crafting naqqash paintings of Telangana
Chandan Bose, Vaikuntam Danalakota Nakash, Vaikuntam Rakesh, and Vaikuntam Vinay

Does ‘craft’ simply refer to the physical process of making? Can we think of ‘craft’ as an intellectual activity, which like any other domain of human thought is structured by language? How does ‘craft’ alter our understanding of what knowledge is, and how it is transmitted? Can we describe these processes accurately and precisely through disciplinary language? Why are accuracy and precision desired in the first place? These are some of the questions that this Stage Talk will address by taking audiences through a live demonstration of naqqashi paintings of Telangana. Belonging to one of the earliest practicing naqqash families of the region, Vanaja and Vaikuntam Danalakota, along with their sons, Rakesh and Vinay, will be the resource persons, ‘doing’ and ‘telling’ how the practice of naqqashi paintings could provide newer avenues to think about craft, skill, and knowledge.