Her yearning to promote the art form has finally come to fruition. Last summer, she won the Davis Project for Peace award, allowing her to start Jurshital Institute for Mithila arts. On February 1, an exhibition of Mithila artworks opened at the Blanchard Art Gallery in Mt. Holyoke College, Massachusetts. The exhibition titled “Art from Grassroots: What it takes to Change a Community” also features Haeinn Woo’s project to support post-earthquake Haiti.
Mishra, 23, an Economics and Math major, is in her senior year of undergraduate school at Mt. Holyoke. Between writing her thesis, preparing for graduation and going through college, she makes sure that Jurshital will grow to be an independent and transparent organization.
Jurshital Institute is based in Janakpur and employs around 18 women who work as artists. These women, who are also housewives and mothers, also form the board of directors and help make decisions. The institute also allows women to work from home and earn money based on commission per painting sold.
“The women might be illiterate but they are smart. They decide what to do with the profits and how much is needed to run the institute. I’m here and they are there, and it only seems fair. Right now, the organization needs a little bit of a push since it’s just begun so I help off and on,” says Khushbu.
Khushbu was born in Halkhori but she has traveled the farthest from her village. Her mother, a schoolteacher, and her father, a farmer, taught her the importance of education and innovation. In Halkhori, if you are a woman, you walked. If you are a man, you ride a bicycle or motorbike. Khushbu’s mother, Saroj Mishra, was the first woman in the village to ride a bicycle. Khushbu has followed her example and has become the first to travel the West for education. But no matter where she went, she could never completely leave her roots behind.
“Halkhori is remote, takes an hour and half to walk from Janakpur or Jaleswor. In the summer, the rains flood the villages and all the roads are gone. Every year, they rebuild and every year it’s destroyed,” says Khushbu.
But even with the seasons and the changes, one thing that remained anchored and unchanging was the paintings on the walls of village houses. These symbols had gathered meaning over the years and had not really changed. The women made paint from organic materials and drew unthinkingly.
“The paintings were typical. It was a skill they acquired easily, like cooking, passed on from generation to generation,” says Khushbu.
Khushbu’s family did not practice the art but her parents agreed to help her when she told them about her project. Her father helped her identify and contact professionals who could help set up the institute and find raw materials. Her mother helped her conceptualize and manage. When Khushbu went to Nepal, she immediately started getting the necessary supply together and completed the paperwork. She also learnt that the challenges she had expected were nothing in comparison to the ones she had not.
“We wanted to transfer their art onto paper. We bought pencils, paper, brushes and colors but I didn’t realize we had to teach them how to hold pencils or use readymade colors. They also couldn’t read the numbers on the brushes or labels on the bottles. We had to start from the very basic,” says Khushbu. She went from house to house in Halkhori, talking to women about her institute.
“A lot of them were reluctant about painting on paper. They didn’t believe anyone would buy what they drew. I told them I’d give them a salary and provide tea and snacks. That convinced a few but for some, because their husband and families, wouldn’t allow them to,” she says.
The Institute’s working hours were arranged to fit the time of an average Halkhori wife and mother. Working hours began at 11am, after they prepared lunch for family, and ended at 5pm, when they would be free to go home, cook, clean, and still do the expected wifely duties. A training period was held, and once the women were able to understand the density of paint, line drawing and basic understanding of art on paper, they created what took their fancy. At the institute, while learning to paint and work, the women also bonded and became a support group of sorts.
The paintings are sorted out, selected and sent to Kathmandu through bus drivers, friends, and relatives. The institute is yet to make profit but Khushbu is optimistic. “We haven’t had any losses, either, yet,” she says, “So profit-making should be possible in the future.”
Related story
Promoting Mithila Art
_20191222200001.jpg)
