Beyond The Canopy: This New Book Documents Odisha’s Appliqué Traditions

A new bilingual publication documenting Odisha’s appliqué traditions through the communities, knowledge and labour behind the craft was launched at the Odisha Craft Odyssey (OCO) Symposium 2026 in Bhubaneswar. Known as “Chandua: Canopies of Labour,” the publication brings together fieldwork, archival research, visual documentation and artisanal biographies to examine the tradition beyond its finished objects.

A New Record Of Odisha’s Appliqué Traditions

​The book, whose 2026 edition is available in both English and Odia, was launched during the valedictory session of the symposium, "Mapping Transitions: Art, Craft, and the Ethnographic Turn," held at the Odisha Research Centre (ORC) Auditorium. The unveiling of the publication took place in the presence of Vishal Kumar Dev, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Energy and E&IT Departments, Government of Odisha, and designer and scenographer Rajeev Sethi, who was the Guest of Honour.

With nine months of intensive research across 45 clusters, the book not just documents the forms and techniques associated with appliqué, but also working processes and lived experiences that have sustained the tradition.

“With 'Chandua: Canopies of Labour,' we wanted to look beyond the visual identity of appliqué and document the knowledge, labour and lived experiences that sustain the tradition,” said Sandeep Hota, Co-founder & Managing Director, BEADS and Advisory Board Member, Odisha Craft Odyssey (OCO). “The nine months of fieldwork across 45 craft clusters, engaging with more than 255 artisans, have allowed us to build a more grounded understanding of Chandua and the people who continue to shape its practice.”

Chandua As A Living Practice

Premjish Achari and Sibdas Sengupta edited the book. The research and documentation were conducted as part of the OCO Fellowship Programme 2025–26, with Madhulika S. Naidu as Research Fellow and Raj Maurya as Archivist Fellow. The project combines field research and archival work to precisely examine the transmission and evolution of the craft, and the changing contexts in which appliqué continues to be practised.

For Sengupta, the research was also an attempt to understand the tradition in a way that went beyond its tools and methods. “The making of the book was an attempt to understand appliqué through its many layers — its materials and techniques, but also the memories, working processes, histories and relationships that surround them,” he said. “The fieldwork allowed us to encounter Chandua not as a static tradition, but as a living practice that continues to be negotiated and adapted by its practitioners.”

The book launch formed part of a day-long symposium that brought together artists, researchers, designers and cultural practitioners to examine the intersections of art, craft and ethnographic practice. Three panels explored these questions from different perspectives. The first, "Art as Social Practice – Artists as Ethnographers: Reimagining Local Knowledge Systems," examined artistic engagement with local knowledge. The second, The Institutional Bridge – Institution Building between Art, Craft, and Anthropology, focused on the relationship between cultural institutions and these fields. The third, The Appliqué Artisan – Agency, Adaptation and Evolution, centred on the changing practices and agency of appliqué artisans.

​Documenting Odisha’s Living Craft Ecosystems

“Chandua: Canopies of Labour” is part of Odisha Craft Odyssey’s wider effort to document Odisha’s craft ecosystems through research, field engagements, residencies, exhibitions, fellowships and publications. In doing so, OCO seeks to look beyond conventional distinctions between fine art and craft, while bringing greater visibility to the craftspeople, practices and knowledge systems that continue to shape the state’s living craft traditions.

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