Ranchi
As a child, she had often seen village women plastering the floors and walls of their mud and thatched houses with clay and cow dung pastes. None, and even she herself, never dreamed of doing a similar act on a marble flooring and walls in London.
But it did happen. A few days ago, her floor and wall painting work on the University premises brought her into the limelight as Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren himself congratulated and appreciated her on his ‘X’ social media handle.
The Jharkhand CM had tweeted: “Congratulations @jyoti_vandana11. My best wishes to you and all previous cohort members of the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Overseas Scholarship & the Chevening-Marang Gomke Overseas Scholarship.”
Meet Jyoti Vandana Lakra from Chainpur block of Gumla district, awaiting the results of her Masters in Fine Arts at Docklands campus of University of East London in London. She was one of those who were provided the State government-initiated scholarship for higher education abroad.
Utilising the opportunity with both hands, Lakra showcased her talent in the University through the traditional indigenous art and culture form in its modern manifestation. It was, in her own words, an attempt at showcasing the rich Jharkhandi culture, customs and traditions abroad.
But how did she do it in a faraway land? “I availed little amounts of different types of dry clay from Jharkhand, added some sandalwood pastes and white acrylic paint to it so that they appear bright when painted on marble or vitrified tiles floor,” Lakra, who is also ahead with her mission to popularise the endangered Kudukh language and literature, told The Indian Tribal.
The creation on the University wall resembled those made on mud or cow-dung painted walls of tribal households in India.
Speaking about how she availed the scholarship, Jyoti, whose father was an employee with the Jharkhand State Electricity Board and mother a homemaker, said, “After doing MA (English), I became a school teacher. But doing something in the field of Fine Arts was my real call. I joined a graduation course at Banaras Hindu University, where I learned about the Jharkhand government’s ambitious Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Overseas Scholarship Scheme. After some hectic efforts, I was finally selected in August, last year.”
So what next? Since finishing her Masters course within a year was a compulsion, she did not take up any part-time job as did many others in her University.
“But now, while I am awaiting my results, I also plan to work as an experience of two years is what counts to begin with. In between some good news came. My University of East London has ranked 7th in the UK. Passing out from a high ranking University does help in getting positions like Assistant Professor in a Fine Arts University,” Jyoti shared.
For that matter, I could even be eligible for the position of a Creative Curator for government events, she pointed out.
But at the end, showcasing the traditional indigenous art culture on global forums and also adequately educating the coming generations remains her main aim.
