The Unknown Land
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PRINT DESIGN
ILLUSTRATION
NOVEMBER 2022
B O M M A I
PRINT DESIGN
For the unacquainted, Golu is a festival celebrated during the nine auspicious days of Navaratri. A spectacle of dolls (Bommai) are arranged on nine steps and the arrangement is worshipped during Navaratri. The dolls are generational wealth and are a part of a girl’s marriage trousseau. Some dolls are traditional such as the Marapachi Bommai and the Thalaiatti Bommai, but now people collect dolls from across the globe for the festivity.
Each delicate Bommai makes an appearance only annually, quietly returning to the cupboards for the rest of the year.
This year, as we unwrapped each Bommai, I was awash in wave after wave of memories. The fragile dolls, wrapped in my grandmother’s old saris- as soft as she had been- rekindled moments otherwise gone.
Setting up the Golu used to be a noisy affair with both sets of grandparents, and us children hovering around. As usual this led to impassionate arguments about the placement of dolls, the background sari colour and the flower decorations. After much hullabaloo, the Golu would be ready.
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The Thanjavur Thalaiatti Bommai are traditional dolls of dancing girls that move at the head, waist and shoulders.
They are rendered in bright, flat coloured. Single brush strokes are used to paint on the details. I attempted to preserve this calligraphic style of painting in my motifs,
M O T I F L I B R A R Y
F I N A L P R I N T
