SUBIKA
PAINTINGS - ART AND CULTURE
News:
Manipur’s age-old Subika
paintings and an assistant professor’s struggle to save the art form
What's
in the news?
●
Manipur boasts a rich cultural heritage
but some of its invaluable art forms like Subika Paintings are on the brink of
extinction due to neglect.
Key
takeaways:
●
It is a style of painting which is
intricately linked to the Meitei
community’s cultural history.
Subika
Paintings:
●
It is an early visual art form of Manipur.
Community:
●
It is a style of painting which is linked
to the Meitei community’s cultural history.
Manuscript:
●
It is surviving through its six manuscripts — Subika, Subika
Achouba, Subika Laishaba, Subika Choudit, Subika Cheithil and Thengrakhel
Subika.
Origin:
●
The royal chronicle, Cheitharol Kumbaba, doesn’t mention a specific founder. However,
experts estimate the use of Subika paintings since the 18th or 19th century.
Key
Features:
●
It is a composition of cultural motifs
made by pre-existing features and other influences encouraged by cultural
world-views of the community.
●
The illustrations of Subika Laishaba have visual language from the elements such
as lines, shapes, forms, colours, and patterns.
●
These visual images become Meitei’s
cultural motif, and structure to create visual effects as well as express
cultural significance.
●
The visual images are painted on handmade paper.
● The materials of manuscripts are prepared indigenously, either handmade paper or barks of trees.