Ankita Mahanty

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will facilitate archival research and fieldwork to create a two-volume graphic novel that will explore the rich history and heritage of Chandannagar. Anchoring the research on the museum collection of Chandernagore College Museum, the project in addition to the graphic novels, will create a handout for the selected collection of objects, e-copy of the graphic novels and organise workshops for the students and general public of the Chandannagar. This project is in collaboration with Chandernagore College Museum in Chandannagar, West Bengal. Set up in 2023, the museum is located in Chandannagar, West Bengal, a city that was once a flourishing trading centre, an erstwhile French colony and is an important cultural site at the present. Born out of the Heritage Studies initiative undertaken by the Chandernagore College, the museum was set up to commemorate the legacy of the armed freedom fighters associated with the College and the city of Chandannagar. The museum also foregrounds the social, political, economic and cultural heritage of the city. Ankita Mahanty is the Coordinator of this project along with collaborators Sumana Maji, Suman Kumar Mallick and Tridev Ruidas.

Ankita Mahanty is an independent researcher and storyteller based out of Durgapur, West Bengal. Her primary interest lies in writing, translating and storytelling. Following this interest, Ankita along with Sumana Maji - a storyteller and editor, Suman Kumar Mallick – an illustrator and comic artist, and Tridev Ruidas – a graphic designer and archivist, formed a collective The Comic One. The collective through archival research and storytelling works on creating graphic novels and comics on various historical aspects. They have previously produced a comic book for children focussing on the childhood of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. In addition, Ankita also has been part of a translation project titled Anglo-American Ghost Stories 1700-1960 undertaken by Kazi Nazrul University. She has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in English from Kazi Nazrul University. Given her interest and experience in research, writing and previous work in creating comic books, Ankita is best suited to be Project Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

The Chandernagore College Museum is a fairly young museum dedicated to the lesser-known aspects of the city of Chandannagar. Distributed across four rooms, the display in the museum focuses on the history and evolution of the city, the under-explored history of the lives and legacies of revolutionaries and such activities that emanated from the city and other cultural legacies like weaving, wrestling, kabigaan- a popular form performance in 19th century Bengal. At present, the museum mostly relies on archival documents, photographs to create an immersive experience for its visitors.  It also aspires to instil a sense of history and belonging amongst the residents of Chandannagar through the idea of ‘City as a Museum’—a way to look at the city both as a resource for history, narratives, collections as well as participation that takes the experience of a museum beyond its physical premises. Ankita and her team of collaborators through this project aim to address this question. 

The goal of the project is to research and produce a two-part graphic novel that situates the collection of the museum within a broader history and lived experience of the city and its people. The narrative will follow a unique framework: a chance encounter between a young heritage enthusiast from the present who traverses Chandannagar and encounters various historical figures, sites and cultural practices. In her quest to understand and satiate her inquiry the character undertakes deep-dive into research and conversations with various historical figures from the past. The narrative will deploy creative retelling of these conversations using the city's places and specific objects from the Chandernagore College Museum as anchor points. This approach will transform complex academic findings into an accessible and imaginative experience. The graphic novel will also weave in the perspectives of revolutionaries, such as Rashbehari Bose, Kanailal Dutta, Motilal Roy, Charu Chandra Roy, Harihar Seth, Arun Chandra Dutta, Shirish Chandra Ghosh, Makhonlal Ghosal, Upendranath Bandyopadhyay and women freedom fighters including Shanti Ghosh, Suniti Chowdhury and several others to demonstrate how the fight for freedom was a collective effort with diverse approaches. The second volume of the graphic novel will explore the rapidly fading intangible cultural heritage like kabi-gaan, kusti (wrestling), and voices of lesser-known local figures, including women, weavers, artisans, and everyday community members. The Project Coordinator and her team have designed the project aligning it to directly support the core objectives of the Chandernagore College Museum. This two-part graphic novel will serve as an engaging tool to generate interest about the museum and its collection, amongst the people of Chandannagar and beyond it. Keeping this in mind, the graphic novel will be made available in English and French in addition to Bangla. 

In order to deepen the relationship between the work, the museum and the public Ankita and her team would also work with the museum staff to create a handout which will enable the visitors to draw interconnections between the story, the collection at the museum and the larger city of Chandannagar. For ease of circulation, digital versions of the graphic novel also will be created to be displayed on kiosks/ screens at the museum. Cumulatively, the three outcomes demonstrate the possibility of being an educational resource by translating complex historical narratives into a visually accessible format. This would not only encourage children – the largest demography of museum visitors for Chandernagore College Museum – but also the general public to have greater awareness about historical sensibility. 

The Archives and Museums programme at IFA intends to explore how museums can emerge as sites of discourses and new narratives for audiences beyond the scholarly realm. This project, through a creative intervention aligns with the vision of the programme. The entire story told through the lens of a heritage enthusiast from the present makes it compelling, by making the readers understand the relevance of the past and how museums can bridge the distance between past and present through creative interpretations. By featuring the museum's objects and spaces as central characters and settings, the series will motivate readers to visit the museum to see the "real-life" artefacts and places they read about or encounter. In order to be historically credible, the script and storyboard will be reviewed for factual and historical accuracy. 

The Project Coordinator has divided the project tenure into three broad phases. The first phase is dedicated to research and scripting to conduct comprehensive research, oral history interviews, and fieldwork and to write the full script and storyboard for Volume 1 and a detailed outline for volume two. In this phase Ankita and her collaborators will also organise a storytelling workshop at Chandernagore College or Museum. In phase two, they will focus on illustrating and finalising volume one. At this stage, they will conduct a formal consultation with a professional historian or researcher and museum authorities to ensure historical accuracy before final production and start illustrating for the second volume. The third and final phase will be for final production and dissemination of the work which includes finalising the text and artwork for volume two, preparing both volumes for printing and digital platforms, and beginning promotion. At this last stage, an illustration workshop and a public launch will be organised at the museum. 

The outcome of the project will be sample print copies of the two-volume graphic novel, digital copies of the graphic novels, a handout for the museum, and workshops around illustration and storytelling. The Project Coordinator’s final deliverables along with the final reports will be the printed copies of the graphic novels, digital copies of the graphic novels, a copy of the handout, and audio-visual documentation of the workshops and other public programming.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

This project is supported by Tata Trusts.