Hundreds of buyers who went to buy fish at the nearly 300-year-old fish market at Kalibabur Bazar in West Bengal’s Howrah witnessed a live showcase of paintings by Kolkata-based postmodernist artist Hiran Mitra, alongside live performances in the evening, between July 9 and July 11.
As many as 31 new paintings by Mr. Mitra were put up at various spots in the fish market for three days between Tuesday and Thursday, as part of the ‘Art in Every One’ public art initiative by Kolkata-based multidisciplinary arts group Howrah Jonaki.
Born in 1945, Mr. Mitra graduated from Kolkata’s Government College of Arts and Crafts and created his own niche by merging elements of performance art in his paintings. The exhibition this week was the second edition of the ‘Art in Every One’ initiative at the fish market at Howrah’s Kalibabur Bazar, after a successful first showcase on December 31, 2023, and January 1.
“This idea was born when Mr. Mitra expressed his wish to showcase his paintings outside of gallery spaces and to take his art to the public in more local, engaging ways,” Biswajit Das, the creative director of Howrah Jonaki, said.
He added that on a daily basis, there is footfall of almost 15,000 in the entire bazaar area. “Many people, including the vendors themselves, thought there would be a film shooting here when they saw the artworks hanging in the fish market. Many people felt curious, many loved it, and many did not engage with it at all,” Mr. Das said.
The fish market at Kalibabur Bazar, which experiences its heaviest footfall in the mornings, also provided a stage for theatre, dance, musical performances and performance poetry in the evenings. | Photo Credit: Moyurie Som
For Mr. Das, the biggest takeaway was to be able to bring people out of their phones and make them engage more mindfully with their surroundings, irrespective of what they felt about the initiative itself. “The fish vendors thoroughly enjoyed the showcase, and even felt honoured to have been part of a multidisciplinary art initiative like this,” Mr. Das said. He mentioned Bulu, a fish vendor who has decided to take up painting as a hobby after engaging with Mr. Mitra’s art.
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The fish market, which experiences its heaviest footfall in the mornings, also provided a stage for theatre, dance, musical performances and performance poetry in the evenings. On July 10, Howrah Jonaki staged their rendition of the Athenian tragedy Antigone at the Kalibabur Bazar fish market, as fish buyers, fish sellers and art enthusiasts looked on.
For three days, as many as 31 new paintings by Kolkata-based postmodernist artist Hiran Mitra were put up at various spots in the fish market at Kalibabur Bazar. | Photo Credit: Moyurie Som
Sukumar Mondol, 52, who has been selling fish at Kalibabur Bazar for nearly three decades, said he is very moved by Mr. Mitra’s decision to showcase his artwork there. “As a fish seller, I feel very honoured that Mr. Mitra presented his paintings in this fish market. However, many of my buyers were shocked to see it, they did not understand why these paintings are here,” Mr. Mondol said. “Everyone considers the fish market a dirty place, but I believe that artists can find inspiration anywhere, including in dirty fish markets,” he said.
According to Arabinda Bandopadhyay, the ninth generation descendent of Kali Banerjee who established the vast marketplace at Howrah, the fish market is one of the biggest and most well-renowned in the State. “Our family has always been very deeply connected with the arts, and we wholeheartedly support such initiatives in this space,” he told The Hindu. “It is better for art to be showcased in such heavily-populated public spaces. That way, a lot more people can experience it.”
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