The story of metal casting in India started 5000 years ago – and despite many changes, some elements have remained constant. This was the story shared by Mandakini Mathur with the attendees of the TEDxPanchgani. Even though it seems that traditions should always remain constant, yet traditions are also living things, and so they too evolve! Working with Adivasi tribals, Mandakini realized that sustaining Art also required sustaining and nurturing the Artist. Evolving tradition, while retaining the essential spirit of the art form, leads to encouragement and success for both the art form and the artist. Describing different methods and techniques, Mandakini kept the audience enthralled and fascinated with the beautiful artifacts created by the Art Village. Our culture, our community, our country – all are rooted in the constant and yet vibrant with change!

Mandakini Mathur, founder of Devrai Art Village, has always had a keen interest in the arts, and also in the environment. Having done her M-Phil in Cinema Studies from the Sorbonne, Paris in 1989, she has been making feature and documentary films on issues of environmental concern, Indian culture, spirituality and child-centric themes. She writes film scripts, stories and poetry (Radha, Poems of Love.) She has also written the script for “A Tiger’s Cry”, an Indo-British feature film based on the theme of protecting Indian wildlife and the Jungles with Shyam Benegal as the director. Based in Panchgani since 1997, she founded Devrai Art Village in 2009. This NGO strives to empower tribal craftsmen through their art. Experimenting with different mediums and designs, Devrai Art Village has brought about an innovation in the ancient art form of lost wax nonferrous metal casting. ‘Rock Dhokra’ is a never tried before technology for fusing stone and brass.

This talk was given at TEDxPanchgani an event held at Ravine Hotel using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx