Telangana’s Cheriyal art on Hong Kong Walls festival

By Sheker Shivarathri Hyderabad: For the first time, Telangana’s 400-year-old Cheriyal scroll painting art form is being showcased on a global platform as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The Cheriyal scroll painting is among four traditional art forms selected from India for the famed Hong Kong Walls festival. The Hong Kong Walls festival […]

By Sheker Shivarathri

Hyderabad: For the first time, Telangana’s 400-year-old Cheriyal scroll painting art form is being showcased on a global platform as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The Cheriyal scroll painting is among four traditional art forms selected from India for the famed Hong Kong Walls festival.

The Hong Kong Walls festival is a non-profit arts organisation that aims to create opportunities for local and international artists to showcase their talent worldwide through the medium of street art and street culture. To mark India’s 75th Independence Day celebrations, the second edition of ‘Kathaa’, a community-driven arts festival that commenced in Hong Kong on December 1, will continue to showcase the art forms till December 10.

This year, four budding artists were selected from India, including Danalakota Sai Kiran Varma from Telangana who comes from a family that has been practising and preserving the Cheriyal scroll painting, a stylised version of Nakashi art. The ancient scroll painting style is well-known in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring States. It is a popular form of storytelling in Telangana, with the paintings usually used to recite epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata besides social issues and contemporary incidents.

Speaking to ‘Telangana Today‘, Sai Kiran, who completed his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, said, “I am so happy that I was selected to showcase my art form on an international platform and represent Telangana. My dream has come true as I always wanted to ensure exposure for this traditional art form on the global arena.”

“Due to restrictions on travel, we could not go to Hong Kong and the festival will be held in hybrid mode. We were asked to send a smaller painting of the artworks, which are supposed to be painted on the walls of the streets, and the Hong Kong authorities appoint local artists to take up the painting there,” Sai Kiran said.

The other three artists from India selected for the festival are — Adarsh, a Mural artist from Kerala, Mohan Kumar Prajapati, a miniature artist from Rajasthan and Sudheer, a Kalamkari artist from Andhra Pradesh. “As part of the launch on December 1, my paintings were exhibited at the Indian Consulate in Hong Kong and they will continue the exhibition for the rest of the month,” Kiran added.