Patna: Photographs of pre-historic paintings and carvings on rocks from five continents - Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and America - will be exhibited at a two-day event, The World of Rock Art Exhibition 2018, at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in collaboration with Bihar Museum on the museum premises on August 18 and 19.
Visitors will be able to see more than 100 photographs of the pictographs and petroglyph (petroglyphs and pictographs represent two distinctive methods for producing rock art. Petroglyphs are carved or pecked into an exposed rock surface, while pictographs are painted onto those surfaces) at the exhibition apart from replica of the rock art besides getting a chance to see a 30-minute documentary made on the rock art by the centre, said additional director in-charge (administration) of Bihar Museum Ranveer Singh Rajput.
"This is the first time such an exhibition is being organised in Patna. Bihar is the 15th state where this exhibition is being organised by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. In 2012, the centre had put up an international rock art conference in which experts from five continents had put up exhibits of the rock art. However, a majority of the exhibits are from Asia, including India. The rock art found in the caves of Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and others will be on display," said Rajput.
"The rock art exhibits from Tamil Nadu would be among the attractions at the exhibition. The rock art has been found on burials in Tamil Nadu. The deceased used to be buried and stone-made boundaries used to be created on which one can find rock art. Residents can also find this rare exhibit in this exhibition. The rock art defines the thinking and lifestyle of primitive men. It defines artistic, cognitive and cultural genealogy of humankind of primitive era. So this exhibition definitely stands out among the other exhibitions," he said.
Exhibits related to the rock paintings of Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh, which has received the Unesco World Heritage tag, will also be present in the exhibition. A special lecture on rock art by experts will be an added attraction besides a workshop in which children would be told about intricacies of rock art and then they would be asked to use their imagination to draw on canvas. The tribal community living in various part of the country who are painting the rock art in their own forms have also been included among exhibits. The aim behind exhibiting their painting is to show rock painting from primitive time to present time," added Rajput.
"Those who would participate in the children workshop would get a participation certificate from Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts," said Rajput. Patna University vice-chancellor Rash Bihari Prasad Singh would inaugurate the conference at 5pm at Bihar Museum on August 18. The inaugural event would be presided over by former director of museums, Bihar, Umesh Chandra Dwivedi.
