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Sanyasi Lohar is an independent artist living in the Santal village of Bishnubati. In the attic of his house he has built a studio where he can produce his works, recently mostly Batik. In addition he works as an art teacher and gives courses at various schools in arts and crafts.
Motifs of Santal village life
For many years his main interests lay in the fields of drawing and painting, also bronze and clay modelling. He found the motifs for his work in the main in Bishnubati and surroundings, where he found the daily life of the village dwellers a source of artistic inspiration. His wish was to portray the world of the Santal people in all its facets. During this phase expressive drawings and watercolour paintings were created, which were also used as illustrations in books about the Santal people.
Apart from painting and drawing typical Santal motifs he also studied the characteristic way the Santals themselves draw, for example on the walls of their houses. He then adopted and abstracted the type and form of painting in order to develop these for his Batik art. His thoughts on this topic have appeared in an article in a book: "The artist inside - Santal women inspire Batik design".
As a Hindu, familiar with Santal culture
Although Santal culture and Santal motifs form the focus of his work as an artist, Sanyasi Lohar himself is not a Santal. He comes from a Hindu family of the Blacksmith caste. His elder brother works in Bishnubati as the village blacksmith, repairing the iron tools the Santal farmers need for their work in the fields.
Sanyasi Lohar, born in Bishnubati in 1972, grew up bilingual. From early childhood he has in addition to Bengali spoken fluent Santali and has adopted the culture of the Santal people. Together with the Santal boy Boro Baski he was one of the first children in his village to attend a school.
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Intercultural inspiration
Sanyasi Lohar studied art at the Santiniketan College of Fine Arts, an extremely well-regarded institution in India which was founded by the poet Rabindranath Tagore. Martin Kämpchen, who had early recognized the boy's artistic talents, found him a place at the college and supported him up to his degree.
Further intercultural inspiration was found in Europe: three times he has spent several months as an art teacher at the private institute Ecole d'Humanité in Switzerland. The founder of the school, Paul Geheeb, also founded the famous Odenwald School before fleeing to Switzerland to escape the National Socialist regime. Rabindranath Tagore visited the Odenwald School in 1930, when he and Edith Geheeb, Paul Geheeb's wife, became friends. Since then Paul and Edith Geheeb and their two schools have maintained close contact with India, a tradition which Sanyasi Lohar has been able to continue.
Involvement in village work
In addition to his work in arts and crafts Sanyasi Lohar is actively involved in village work; he belongs to the village council and works creatively on all the festivals and events in Ghosaldanga and the "Rolf Schoembs Vidyashram School" (RSV). At the school he regularly holds art courses at which he attempts to conform to Tagore's model for art education..
Sanyasi has also played a key role in journeys to Europe undertaken by Santal groups, for example a visit to Germany in 2008 with the motto "A Santal village introduces itself". For this group tour he painted posters and pictures, including a series with motifs from the "Santal story of creation". Although a Hindu, he was able sing the songs of the Santal people and also perform their dances. His artistic talent is indispensable, not only on such tours but also in the work of the village projects.
Plans for the future
On our last visit in early 2012 Sanyasi had taken on an interesting new commission - the design and creation of the portal of a Hindu temple. The basic raw material was clay, which was first formed into largish slabs then cut into manageable, workable smaller tablets. In order to fire the clay tablets he had built himself his own kiln. After the clay has been fired the tablets will be taken to the temple, where they will be assembled to make the portal.
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In addition to his involvement in the village work of Ghosaldanga and Bishnubati Sanyasi has in the meantime also founded a registered society whose aim it is to extend activities in the fields of nutritional counselling and medical care to further villages in the surrounding area. During our visit in January 2012 he showed us the nutrition programme for mother and child in the village of Rindanga.
Sanyasi Lohar is married to Sandhya from the district capital of Bolpur; they have a three-year-old son Rishi. The information about Sanyasi Lohar's career (in English) can be found here.