Tribal Women Artists Cooperative
Art collective in India / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tribal Women Artists Cooperative (TWAC) was initially founded by Bulu Imam[1] (Convener, INTACH Hazaribagh Chapter) in 1993 out of a Tribal Art Project funded by the Australian High Commission, New Delhi. The cooperative continues to be directed by Bulu Imam, Padma Shri awardee (2019) as a social worker for promoting the ritual Khovar and Sohrai mural painting tradition,[2] benefiting thousands of village women, and has gained international recognition through several exhibitions in major art galleries around the world.[3]
Formation | 31 August 1993 (1993-08-31) |
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Founder | Bulu Imam |
Type | Artists cooperative |
Headquarters | Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, India |
This unique tribal art project was started with about 40 women artists which began to bring the art on walls of the mud houses to paper and paint professionally. Today, the cooperative's initiative empowers over 5,000 women enabling their art to be exhibited in over 60 international venues in Australia, Canada, America, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, and England.[4]
The tribal art created by these women artists over the decades has been displayed and preserved in the Sanskriti Museum & Art Gallery, and accessible for research and study to anyone interested in the development of tribal art and culture in Jharkhand. The first collection of tribal paintings made by the cooperative in early 1990s are a part of the Bulu Imam Collection, and which is made available exclusively through the cooperative.[citation needed]