Art

White, lightweight, and sustainable, Indian cork or sholapith is a natural raw material available in West Bengal and Odisha. Here’s how it is used as a sustainable alternative to thermocol.

MeMeraki founded by Yosha Gupta is a ‘culture-tech’ platform with online art and craft masterclasses taken by some of India's best traditional artists and artisans.

Noor Jahan and her cousin Wajeeda Tabassum co-founded Shesrig Ladakh, an art conservation practice that restores and conserves ancient wall paintings, religious manuscripts, thangka (Buddhist scroll) paintings and metal works.

Meet award-winning artisan Mala Pal from Kolkata’s famed Kumartuli locality, who is training several young people in idol making to keep an old art form from dying.

With their venture SarfarazSakshi Innovation Private Limited, Ghaziabad duo Sakshi and Sarfaraz create sculptures and utility products out of plastic waste, including benches and tables for schools and Anganwadis in UP.

Over the years, Adivasi women were sidelined from practising the simple yet beautiful Warli art. Meet the people fighting for the art to be internationally recognised and for more women and youth to earn from its practice.

Muhammad Yusuf Muran, a hearing and speech-impaired wood carving artisan from Kashmir, earns up to Rs 6.5 lakh for his intricate wooden sculptures.

Coimbatore-based graphic designer Shuruti Vengatesh has started ‘Patti's Petti’, an initiative where one can send in their grandmother’s recipes or hacks and see them turned into an illustrated postcard.

A self-taught doodle artist, Santanu Hazarika quit engineering to fulfil his dreams. Today, he creates intricately detailed illustrations inspired by Japanese Anime, besides live doodling and designing customised sneakers.

These eight artists use unconventional, and sometimes bizarre, mediums to create their art. Their pieces are nothing short of otherworldly and thought-provoking. Take a look.