Chitarkari _ Slate engraving > Chitarkari - Slate carving 1993-2018

While working with the chitarkars ( slate engravers) I wanted to pick the hammer and chisel and work myself. My very first piece was a tombstone of a woman with flowing hair. It was a smaller replica of the stately uneven ancient tombstones.

Like in majority of Islamic folk art , in chitarkari also one finds absence of figurative art where humans are only represented by symbols. On the tombstones a woman is only represented by jewellery symbols, in a rare tombstone a woman has a sewing machine symbol .

Initially, I used to draw for the craftsmen who would carve out my designs, but I did not feel a sense of ownership and felt guilty that my work fetched ten times more than the craftsman. This is how the market works but I wanted to do the carving myself, it is hard, physical work and time consuming but at the end of the day it is my own.

Ode to dance
Slate engraving, permanent marker
Each slate stone is approximately 24cm x 41 cm
2016
Ode to dance
Slate stone engraving, permanent marker
approximately 24cm x 41 cm
2016
Ode to Dance
Chitarkari - Slate Carving
Ode to Dance
Chitarkari - Slate Carving
2006
Ode to Dance
Chitarkari - Slate Carving
Ethnic Portraits
Chitarkari - Slate Carving
Ethnic Portraits
Chitarkari - Slate Carving
Inset of a Woman's Tombstone
Chitarkari - Slate Carving
1993
Woman's Tombstone
1992
Chitarkari - Slate Carving
75 cmx 28 cm