Allen Smutylo: 2012: The Thar Desert
[One in a series of trips, 1995 to 2013.]
) Bikaner Nomad #1 watercolour, 2013, 13.5 x 10.3" ) Bikaner Nomad #2 mixed media, 2013, 22 x 14.5" ) Bopa Caste mixed media, 2013, 14 x 21" ) Camelmen #1 watercolour, 2013, 13 x 10" ) Camelmen #2 watercolour, 2013, 10 x 14" ) Camelmen #3 mixed media, 2013, 14.5 x 22" ) Camelmen #4 watercolour, 2013, 14 x 21.5" ) Camelmen #5 watercolour, 2013, 13.5 x 21.5" ) Desert Woman #1 mixed media, 2013, 14 x 10.5" ) Desert Woman #2 mixed media, 2013, 14.5 x 22" ) Desert Woman #3 mixed media, 2013, 14 x 21.5" |
Its presence is indomitable, cast across a huge swath of northwest Rajasthan (India's large state), and into the eastern frontier of Pakastan. The Thar Desert is a sea of rolling dunes, with a stunted mix of scrub grasses, and khejri, babul and neem trees. Its winter climate consists of freezing nights and days of cloudless skies and searing heat. Summers are unbearably hot. Sprinkled throughout this water-deprived wasteland are small villages made up of mud and dung walled dwellings with thatched roofs. The skylines of the few cities that are there, enviably, are dominated by high-walled ramparts - massive fortifications rising out of the desert - a requirement of past times to protect the city, its rulers, vassals, palaces and wealth from Moguls and neighbouring maharajahs. Rajasthan, literally translates as 'Land of Kings'. It is a state no longer ruled by rajas yet their influence is still easily felt. Centuries of squabbles and warfare between princely realms has helped shape today's culture, producing a "walled" mentality towards outsiders. Adding to that is a densely complex social structure, heavily steeped in patriarchy, the caste system and parental hierarchy. Although much of the desert's population is impoverished, it remains, as it was in ancient times, an area of craftsmanship and artistic flair with a profusion of exquisite form and vibrant colour, seen in an everyday-display of jewelry, metalwork, architecture, textiles and paintings. In late 2011 and early 2012 I traveled to this area of Rajasthan to see and document its desert culture, with its gypsies, nomads, shepherds, camel men and other people that call the Thar Desert home. 
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) Desert Woman #4 mixed media, 2013, 21.5 x 14.5" ) Desert Woman #5 mixed media, 2013, 14 x 22" ) Drinking Water watercolour, 2013, 10 x 14" ) Muslin Woman mixed media, 2013, 14 x 10.5" ) Nomad Girl watercolour, 2013, 11 x 8.5" ) Painted Ground watercolour, 2013, 14 x 21.5" ) Desert Camp oil on canvas, 2012, 22.5 x 32"" ) Desert Story oil on canvas, 2012, 22 x 36" (with decorative frame, 29 x 42") ) Weaver's Daughter oil on 3 canvases, 2012, 24 x 34.5" ) Gypsy oil on canvas, 2012, 22 x 23.5" ) At Bikaner oil on canvas, 2012, 24 x 30" |
Paintings + Prints: | 2013: Ghana - West Africa | 2012:Thar Desert | 2011:Varanasi & Rajasthan | 2010:Nomad Memoir | 2010:Sea of Cortez | 2008:Brokpa | 2007:Ladakh-Winter | 2007:Italy | 2006:Kharnak | 2005:Changpa | 2004:Patagonia | 2003:Nomads | 2002:Ladakh | 2001:Zanskar | 2001:Antarctica | 2000:Bylot Is. Cont'd 1999:Bylot Is. | 1998:Buchanan Bay | 1997:Greenland | 1995-6:Whales