Date: 26th May – 24th June 2018
Venue: IGNCA, Janpath

Fans are having their moment of glory. Of course it is peak summer and we can’t live without them. We recently visited Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) for a different look at fans or Pankha. Artist Jatin Das has been collecting hand fans and these fans are now on display under the eponymous exhibition Pankha here. The exhibition is on from 26th May – 24th June 2018.

We visited the preview on 25th May. Jatin Das and his famous daughter actress Nandita Das were present at the inauguration along with other celebrities like Mark Tully. It was an informal event were poems were recited and people broke into impromptu speeches. A singer playing the tamboora sang a folk song on “pankha”. There were some refreshments and in tune with the event, the fare was all Indian – gujia and pera (no cupcakes) and samosa and kachori (no cookies).

The collection can be broadly divided in two sections – Indian fans and foreign fans. The Indian fans looked gorgeous. There were big palm leave painted fans from Bengal, mirror embroidered fabric fans from Gujarat / Rajasthan, grass woven fans from Orissa or silver fans used by nobility to name a few. There were some modern take on fans where any random material or piece of art had been fixed with stick handles and converted into hand fans. The fans from overseas were mainly Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, African etc. The base materials included paper, beads, feathers, cotton, silk and so on. There was also a sale area where some traditional handfans and other handicrafts were being sold.

Coming back to the exhibition, there was a common element among all the fans on display. While their basic function was to stir the air, they all were visual delights and you have to see to believe what we say. These fans would have made summers bearable for all their users. Needless to say, the exhibition is an intelligent tribute to the ongoing summer season. For all of you who believe in art in life – see fans in all their glory at Pankha.