Gender, value, creativity and the marketplace

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the more than seven decades since Indian independence, the relationship between artisan and art in India has radically changed. Having lived in the Kutch region of Gujarat for thirty years and worked with traditional artisans there for fifty, the author presents a rich case study of the impact of commercialisation of textile traditions on artisan communities. The article examines changing patterns of patronage and production among textile artisan communities in Kutch. Drawing on extensive interviews with artisan graduates of a design education program that the author initiated in 2005, it documents how men as well as women tapped into creativity and gained individual recognition. But the success they sought ultimately entailed operation in a market beyond their social sphere. In the realm of the little-known market, men restrained their creativity. For women, persistent social constraints made familiarisation with the market much harder to achieve. However, women graduates who were able to consider crossing gender lines, similarly limited their creativity when they engaged with the market. The author argues that gender per se did not shape an artisan’s traditional relationship to craft and creativity, but rather the relationship to the consumer, which had been determined by gender roles.