Badanga is a small village 15 kilometres from the city of Udaipur. It is populated by the Bhil and Meena tribes. The SICCA team conducted a pilot project in this village in March 2021, under the vertical of “Public Art through Community Engagement”. The 12 day artist residency was held at Art Junction, the residence and workshop space of artist Chiman Dangi, located within the village. Four artists were invited, who collaborated with the local artists and facilitators to explore artistic interventions in the local community. The facilitators held workshops teaching traditional art like mud plastering and mirror work, papier mache sculptures and paper masks. The invited artists worked mainly with children from the local government school and Seva Sansthan. The work from these collaborations was displayed on the final day of the residency, and the event was attended by 200+ people.
The final day exhibition saw performances by the children and displayed everything made over the course of 12 days. Children’s drawings were projected onto a tent, and a narrative was built by the artists combining all of them, conveying the power of storytelling.