Chitpur Local by Hamdasti
//EVENT DESIGN & SOCIAL ART PROJECT
Hamdasti is a Kolkata-based non-profit arts organisation fostering partnerships between artists and communities, using art and design to facilitate dialogue, civic participation, and social engagement, ultimately strengthening relationships of communities with their cities.
Chitpur Local, Hamdasti's pilot project, revitalised Kolkata's Chitpur Road by engaging artists, students, residents, and shop-owners to create shared cultural spaces. The initiative resulted in community-led projects, a public art festival, and strengthened community networks.
Being a part of Hamdasti, I lead one of the community projects called “Pop-Up Museum” and I also designed all creatives for the festivals “ Tales of Chitpur” and “ Celebrating a Heritage”.
Deliverables: Complete Event design including invites, panels at the exhibit, Press Ads, Hoardings, Maps, Leaflets in 3 languages, stationary and a self initiated project with the community (Pop-up Museum)
Festival II: Tales of Chitpur, February 2018
Invite and Banner
Hoarding
Panel at the Festival in Hindi, English and Bengali
Handout given at the Festival in Hindi, Engish and Bengali
Festival I: Chitpur Local, Celebrating a Heritage, March 2015
Festival Visual Language and Logo
Panels at the Festival
Pop up event at Cafe Sienna, Kolkata to promote the local craft and community
Pop Up Museum
A temporary museum, created in the courtyard of the century-old house "De Residence," was born with a vision: collecting stories through objects and creating a space where the community could gather, interact and connect on a deeper level.
I collaborated with a group of participants, ranging from enthusiastic school students to long-time residents, skilled craft makers, knowledgeable librarians, talented local theatre practitioners, and gifted artists from the locality. Each member contributed objects from their own personal collections, each with a unique and meaningful story behind it.
At the festival, something magical began to unfold. All the participants, with their diverse backgrounds and interests, gathered at the museum and experienced the power of shared storytelling. The boundaries that might have previously separated them seemed to dissolve, fostering a sense of unity and understanding within the community.
The students from a government school right opposite the house, played an especially vital role in this endeavor. Tasked with interviewing stakeholders and gathering valuable stories, they embraced their responsibilities with determination and enthusiasm. In the process, they not only deepened their connection with their own neighborhood but also developed newfound confidence in approaching people and fearlessly engaging in conversations.
This map had a list of stakeholders the chitpur local team worked with, ranging from shopkeepers to the local school.
It displays various local traditions and objects the owners possess. The idea was to use this map as an exploratory tool to discover the neighborhood and interact with local community.