Nov 09 2025 to Nov 09 2025 6 p.m.

Price: 100 Book/Buy

Where

Courtyard Koota

Ground floor, Good Earth Tarana Good Earth Malhar, near Rajarajeswari medical college Kambipura, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560074

Event Description

An interaction with the artists

Cheriyal Mask Artisans in collaboration with Sarah Thomas & Shweta Pai.  

Exhibition and Talk 

This is a collaboration with the traditional Cheriyal Mask Artisans and two contemporary artists. The intent of this collaboration is to take the craft to another context and for an exchange of ideas between the artists.  The brief for each piece has been created by the contemporary artist and working with the traditional artists we hope new directions will emerge for each of them. We bring you two mask installations that bridge tradition, material, and myth.

This session will be a presentation of the pieces created and a sharing of the process.

Beneath the Tamarind – Flesh and Folklore

Artist  : Sarah Thomas Mullamangalam

Artists: Pavan Kumar Danalakota and Sowmya Danalakota, Telangana

The installation will explore two aspects of the tamarind tree — one rooted in the physical world, and the other in folklore.

The outer mask, painted in the traditional Cheriyal style, celebrates the tamarind tree’s natural beauty. Its form evokes the tree’s branches, fruit, flowers, and leaves, honoring both the material and its artistic lineage in Telangana mask-making.

The inner mask shifts inward, drawing on the spiritual and mythological narratives associated with the tree. Unpainted and rustic, it reflects the belief that the tamarind tree serves as a bridge between the living world and the realm of spirits — its roots reaching into both earth and myth.

Together, the masks invite reflection on the interconnectedness of nature, craft, and cultural memory.

About Sarah Thomas

Sarah Thomas is a Bangalore based Textile Designer who specializes in the Art of Shibori, a Japanese resist dyeing technique. She started her own company Umoya Designs in 2007, after having graduated from the Srishti school of Art, Design and Technology. She is also a Fiber and mixed media Artist, having exhibited her work in Kerala, Bangalore and Bombay.

That Blue Day

Artist : Shweta Pai

Artists:Pavan Kumar Danalakota and Sowmya Danalakota, Telangana

That Blue Day - is a little peek into a bizarre blue dream-like day. A narrative born from the fascination for the blue pigment & childhood memories.

About Shweta Pai

As a textile and toy designer and the Founder & Creative Director of Muuyee, Shweta Pai is the storyteller that ties all of Muuyee’s worlds together. Attending equally to both the sensitivity of children’s stories and the many earth-friendly choices that help re-imagine them as wearables, homeware, playmates, books and more - Shweta refuses to marry herself to a single material or discipline. Since building the brand in 2017, she’s curated Muuyee’s connection with artisans, writers, researchers, designers and children, who she regards as her ambassadors. In all their playful and intuitive energies, the children of the world resonate with her own spirit. Her goal is to invest in meaningful and nature-friendly lifestyles that imaginatively nod to all our inner children.

About Pavan Kumar Danalakota and Sowmya Danalakota

Cheriyal Masks: Faces of Folklore

The Cheriyal mask tradition of Telangana evolved from the larger narrative art of Cheriyal scroll painting—a storytelling practice once used by itinerant performers to illustrate episodes from epics and folklore. Over time, these painted faces stepped off the scrolls and became three-dimensional characters that bring to life characters from local myths and village theatre.

Handcrafted from sawdust, tamarind seed paste, and locally sourced gum, these masks are moulded by hand, and they are painted in the vivid red, blue, and yellow tones distinctive to Cheriyal art.

Today, artisans like Pavan Nakash and Sowmya Danalakota continue to adapt these forms beyond performance—creating masks as wall art, educational tools, and installations that bridge craft, storytelling, and sculpture.

About the Artisans

Pavan Kumar Danalakota and Sowmya Danalakota
Cheriyal Scroll Painters, Telangana

Third-generation artists from a celebrated family of Cheriyal painters, Pavan and his wife Sowmya continue a legacy that spans over seven decades. Their lineage includes National Award–winning artist Danalakota Chandrayya. Together, they have revitalized Cheriyal storytelling through murals, workshops, and installations across India.

For Craft Forward, and in collaboration with designers Shweta Pai and Sarah Abraham, they present That Blue Day, Beneath the Tamarind – Flesh and Folklore — two mask installations that bridge tradition, material, and myth.

*Open to all.