Odisha Craft Odyssey Launches Chandua: Canopies of Labour, a Book Documenting Odisha’s Living Appliqué Traditions.

Bhubaneswar, 20 sept 2026:( Pratyusha Bureau ) Odisha Craft Odyssey (OCO) launched Chandua: Canopies ofLabour, a bilingual publication documenting Odisha’s appliqué traditions and the communities,knowledge and labour that sustain them, during the valedictory session of the OCO Symposium 2026,Mapping Transitions: Art, Craft, and the Ethnographic Turn, held at the Odisha Research Centre(ORC) Auditorium, Bhubaneswar.The publication was unveiled in the presence of Shri Vishal Kumar Dev, IAS, Additional ChiefSecretary, Energy and E&IT Departments, Government of Odisha, as Chief Guest, and Shri RajeevSethi, Indian Designer & Scenographer and Padma Bhushan Awardee, as Guest of Honour. Thelaunch marked the culmination of the day-long symposium, which brought together artists, researchers,designers, cultural practitioners and institutional voices to examine the evolving relationship betweenart, craft and ethnographic practice.Published by Odisha Craft Odyssey, Chandua: Canopies of Labour brings together fieldwork, archivalresearch, visual documentation and artisanal biographies to examine Odisha’s appliqué traditionsbeyond the finished craft object. The publication documents the terminology, materials, techniques,cultural contexts and changing practices associated with appliqué, while placing the experiences andknowledge of its makers at the centre of the narrative.The 2026 edition is published in English and Odia and is edited by Premjish Achari and SibdasSengupta. The research and documentation were undertaken through the OCO Fellowship Programme2025-26, with Madhulika S. Naidu as Research Fellow and Raj Maurya as Archivist Fellow. Theirwork brings together field research and archival material to examine the transmission of craftknowledge, the evolution of techniques and practices, and the changing contexts in which the traditioncontinues to be practised.The publication is the outcome of nine months of intensive research across 45 craft clusters,combining field-based research, archival material, visual documentation and accounts of artisans. Theresearch records not only the forms and techniques associated with appliqué, but also the knowledge,working processes and lived experiences that have sustained the tradition.Speaking about the publication, Sandeep Hota, Co-founder & Managing Director, BEADS andAdvisory Board Member, Odisha Craft Odyssey (OCO), said, “With Chandua: Canopies of Labour, wewanted to look beyond the visual identity of appliqué and document the knowledge, labour and livedexperiences that sustain the tradition. For OCO, this publication is part of a longer engagement with Odisha’scraft ecosystems, where research and documentation are closely connected to the communities andpractitioners being studied. The nine months of fieldwork across 45 craft clusters, engaging with more than255 artisans, have allowed us to build a more grounded understanding of Chandua and the people whocontinue to shape its practice.””Sibdas Sengupta, Editor, Chandua: Canopies of Labour, said, “The making of Chandua: Canopies ofLabour was an attempt to understand appliqué through its many layers- its materials and techniques, butalso the memories, working processes, histories and relationships that surround them. The fieldwork allowed to encounter Chandua not as a static tradition, but as a living practice that continues to be negotia tedand adap ted by its practitioners.The 0C0 Symposium 2026, organised around the theme Mapping Transitions: Art, Craft, and theEthnographic Turn, featured three panels examining differentintersections of art, craft, research andinstitutional practice. Panel I, “Art as Social Practice – Artists as Ethnographers: Reimagining LocalKnowledge Systems,” was moderated by Premjish Achari and featured Jeebesh Bagchi, Anupam Roy andBishnu Mohapatra. Panel II, “The Institutional Bridge -Institution Building between Art, Craft, andAnthropology,” was moderated by Charudutta Panigrahi and featured Monisha Ahmed, Richa AgarwalandSiddharthaMohanty. Panel III, “The Appliqué Artisan – Agency,Adaptation and Evolution,” wasmoderated by Sibdas Sengupta and featured Raj Maurya, Debi Prasanna Nanda and Jagannath Panda.The symposium brought together artists, curators, researchers, designers and cultural practitioners fromOdisha and beyond,including Shri Rajeev Sethi,Premjish Achari, Sibdas Sengupta, Jeebesh Bagchi,Anupam Roy, Prof. Bishnu Mohapatra, Charudutta Panigrahi, Monisha Ahmed, Richa Agarwal,Siddhartha Mohanty, Raj Maurya, Debi Prasanna Nanda and Jagannath Panda, among others. Thediscussions explored artistic engagement with local knowledge systems, the role of institutions inconnecting art, craft andanthropology, and the ways in which artisans and craft practices respond tochanging contexts.Chandua: Canopies of Labour forms part of Odisha Craft Odyssey’s larger, long-term initiative todocument and engage with Odisha’s craft ecosystems through fellowships, field engagements,residencies,exhibitions, research and publications. The programmeseeks to question conventionalhierarchies between fine art and craft while creating greater visibility for craftspeople, their practicesand their knowledge systems.About Odisha Craft OdysseyOdisha Craft Odyssey (0CO) is a collaborative initiative of the MGM Foundation and the BhubaneswarExperimental Art and Design Studio (BEADS). The programme is rooted in a long-term engagementwith Odisha’s craft traditions, bringing together research, fieldwork, residencies, exhibitions, fellowshipsand publications.