Staying Connected #7 | Read Away the Lockdown Blues | May 21, 2020

Do you find yourself seeking comfort and inspiration in books during this time of physical distancing? Does this time make you want to rekindle that romance between you and reading? Looking for reading material to last through lockdown?

As we wish that you find many enjoyable books to keep you company while locked in and after, the Staying Connected Series by India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) continues to bring you the work from the arts and culture world that we hope you will like engaging with. To enrich your lockdown reading experience, today we would like to present to you, two publications brought to you by IFA - 13 issues of ArtConnect and Embroidering Futures: Repurposing the Kantha edited by Ritu Sethi which are just a download away.

Between 2008 and 2013, IFA published 13 issues of ArtConnect comprising essays, accounts, interviews and reviews on a fascinating array of subjects—female impersonators in Company Theatre in Kannada, Marathi Little Magazines, gender and the Indian documentary, to interviews with actor and theatre director MK Raina, and India’s first woman filmmaker Fatma Begum. You will also find special issues on Arts Education, the Performing Arts, Ramayana and one that marks 100 years of Indian Cinema. Click here to read all issues of ArtConnect for free!

Published by IFA with support from the Infosys Foundation, the book titled Embroidering Futures: Repurposing the Kantha, edited by Ritu Sethi documents the journey of kantha embroidery from being a household custom of women in Bengal to becoming a staple of shops and boutiques in the big cities where it is now sold as an expensive work of art. In narrating the story of the kantha, through interviews with collectors, inheritors, designers and producers, this book also explores the different ways to ensure its survival. Click here to read the full copy!