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

The publication is the outcome of nine months of research across 45 craft clusters, engaging with more than 255 artisans and bringing together fieldwork, archival research, visual documentation and artisanal biographies.

Bhubaneswar (Odisha Tazanews) :- Odisha Craft Odyssey (OCO) launched Chandua: Canopies of Labour, 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 Chief Secretary, Energy and E&IT Departments, Government of Odisha, as Chief Guest, and Shri Rajeev Sethi, Indian Designer & Scenographer and Padma Bhushan Awardee, as Guest of Honour. The launch marked the culmination of the day-long symposium, which brought together artists, researchers, designers, cultural practitioners and institutional voices to examine the evolving relationship between art, craft and ethnographic practice.

Published by Odisha Craft Odyssey, Chandua: Canopies of Labour brings together fieldwork, archival research, visual documentation and artisanal biographies to examine Odisha’s appliqué traditions beyond the finished craft object. The publication documents the terminology, materials, techniques, cultural contexts and changing practices associated with appliqué, while placing the experiences and knowledge 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 Sibdas Sengupta. The research and documentation were undertaken through the OCO Fellowship Programme 2025–26, with Madhulika S. Naidu as Research Fellow and Raj Maurya as Archivist Fellow. Their work brings together field research and archival material to examine the transmission of craft knowledge, the evolution of techniques and practices, and the changing contexts in which the tradition continues 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. The research 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 and Advisory Board Member, Odisha Craft Odyssey (OCO), said, “With Chandua: Canopies of Labour, we wanted to look beyond the visual identity of appliqué and document the knowledge, labour and lived experiences that sustain the tradition.

For OCO, this publication is part of a longer engagement with Odisha’s craft ecosystems, where research and documentation are closely connected to the communities and practitioners being studied. The nine months of fieldwork across 45 craft clusters, engaging with more than 255 artisans, have allowed us to build a more grounded understanding of Chandua and the people who continue to shape its practice.”

Sibdas Sengupta, Editor, Chandua: Canopies of Labour, said, “The making of Chandua: Canopies of Labour was an attempt to understand appliqué through its many layers — its materials and techniques, but also the memories, working processes, histories and relationships that surround them. The fieldwork allowed us to encounter Chandua not as a static tradition, but as a living practice that continues to be negotiated and adapted by its practitioners.”

The OCO Symposium 2026, organised around the theme Mapping Transitions: Art, Craft, and the Ethnographic Turn, featured three panels examining different intersections of art, craft, research and institutional practice. Panel I, “Art as Social Practice – Artists as Ethnographers: Reimagining Local Knowledge Systems,” was moderated by Premjish Achari and featured Jeebesh Bagchi, Anupam Roy and Bishnu Mohapatra.

Panel II, “The Institutional Bridge – Institution Building between Art, Craft, and Anthropology,” was moderated by Charudutta Panigrahi and featured Monisha Ahmed, Richa Agarwal and Siddhartha Mohanty. Panel III, “The Appliqué Artisan – Agency, Adaptation and Evolution,” was moderated by Sibdas Sengupta and featured Raj Maurya, Debi Prasanna Nanda and Jagannath Panda.

The symposium brought together artists, curators, researchers, designers and cultural practitioners from Odisha 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. The discussions explored artistic engagement with local knowledge systems, the role of institutions in connecting art, craft and anthropology, and the ways in which artisans and craft practices respond to changing contexts.

Chandua: Canopies of Labour forms part of Odisha Craft Odyssey’s larger, long-term initiative to document and engage with Odisha’s craft ecosystems through fellowships, field engagements, residencies, exhibitions, research and publications. The programme seeks to question conventional hierarchies between fine art and craft while creating greater visibility for craftspeople, their practices and their knowledge systems.