The 2023 Sama-Vaya Art Retreat brought six artists and craftspeople from across India together for five days in Patnitop, Jammu.
Curated by Anupa Mehta and Anuradha Sorabjee, the retreat concluded with an exhibition of individual and collaborative works.
Craft and contemporary art working side by side
Participants included artisans Mohan Kumar Verma, Ramesh Hengadi and Sanjay Chitara, alongside contemporary artists Sarika Mehta, Bhairavi Modi and Kanchan Chander.
The residency structure encouraged exchange between practices that might otherwise be presented separately as traditional craft and contemporary art.
The title Sama-Vaya, associated with union and the weaving of coloured threads, reflected that collaborative intention.
Landscape and local culture as shared material
The artists drew inspiration from Jammu, Patnitop, the Sanget Valley and the surrounding Pir Panjal range.
The works responded to natural colour, flora, fauna, spiritual sites and local traditions.
Students from the Fine Arts Department of Jammu and Kashmir visited the exhibition and discussed methods and ideas with the residents.
The original account was heavily framed through the hospitality venue hosting the retreat.
Removed from that promotional language, the project’s artistic value lay in the time provided for six makers to observe one region and develop work through direct contact with one another.
Sama-Vaya treated collaboration as more than placing finished objects in the same room.
The retreat created conditions in which craft knowledge, contemporary visual language and regional experience could alter the making process before the final exhibition opened.