The passion for creativity and excellence
Riti Academy of Visual Arts was formed with the objective to nurture, sustain and propagate the genuine understanding of aesthetics with emphasis on indigenous conceptualization and attitude towards the arts and literature. In relevance to the situation and time the people of the region have undergone through various phases of history and the situation has taken shape by the forces of influence from other dominant culture. Therefore, it is important to uphold traditional knowledge as a resource of imagination, creativity and excellence of indigenous impulses which coheres with contemporary creative expression and artistic vision. This mission and movement is the avowed task of Riti Academy to create positive energies and opportunities in cultural theorization and praxis.
Since its inception in 1991 Riti Academy of Visual Arts has traversed a long way in providing congenial space for the art fraternity to meaningfully work and realise its potential and vision. The road has been fraught with formidable challenges which has made the struggle all the more memorable and rewarding because of the effort inspired and made. While we would like to submit that we have made, to a degree, our presence felt and can lay some claim to have achieved something, we accept that there is still much more to be done in this ever-growing arena of socio-cultural engagement. There are a myriad of issues to address, a slew of ideas to engage with, and numerous activities to conceive and prosecute for the welfare of the fraternity. We hold the responsibility to initiate, facilitate and motivate a positive approach towards achieving a goal for the cause of promotion, conservation and appreciation of folk and traditional art genres and forms. We are equally committed to keep pace with the contemporary discourse of art and cultural practices.
Initially, our humble effort of conducting art classes for the children had instantly created tremendous impact and motivated the youth and even few elderly persons enrolled for learning painting. However, the turning point for the organisation and the art fraternity in Shillong was when Thoh Shun International Art Camp was organised in 2005 with participation from young artists of few European and Asian countries. The Art Camp had given emphasis to the prospect of homegrown artists of the North Eastern region of India. In 2007 the Thoh Shun Art Exhibition of North East artists was held at Dhaka, Bangladesh with the support of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, Art Club, Bangladesh and the Greater Sylhet Indigenous People's Forum. Thoh Shun is a Khasi word of cultural significance for every auspicious occasion. Thoh Shun in Khasi literally means 'To mark with lime' or 'Lime marked'. As a concept, it has highly auspicious connotations that inspires positive and salubrious action. Lime is elemental stuff - a water soluble solid - used primarily in building industry. It is also used as a cleansing agent and as fertiliser. For the Khasis, lime is a cultural marker of tremendous significance. Lime carries a mythic metaphor for blood. It is used for divination purposes and since ancient times, has been highly valued for its curative powers.
Thoh Shun is one of the most significant customary performance of the Khasi people. It is an auspicious intervention into any situation of ordinary or momentous occasion. At the Ïingsad at Smit there is a post where lime is marked to keep the data of offerings brought about by the citizens during the Pom Blang Hima ceremony, which culminate in the popular Nongkrem Dance Festival. When one enters a place of sanctity lime is marked to purify their mind and body. When an infant is taken out or expose in public particularly at night lime is marked at the temple of the child to protect from the cast of evil power. When someone is venturing a challenging task, lime is marked to divert any obstacle. When a person suffers from any ailment, lime is marked around the infected portion of the body, for example a person affected with stomach-ache, lime is marked around the navel to prevent from constipation, diarrhoea and dysentery; even a solvent diluted with ash is fed to hinder the disease. A daub of lime is always compulsory for a person to carry for a simple thing like mixing with betel leaf and betel nut for consumption to a severe action of casting away evil. Lime is white in colour- a symbol of purity and a matter to wash away all sorts of impurities.
In the recent past lime is being marked at the main entrance entering Sohpetbneng peak during the annual pilgrimage atop the sacred mountain range.
In the search for further prospects in the art field, many local artists find themselves askance, searching for meaning, purpose, and thought material to articulate themselves through their creative intuition and impulse. Driven by the compulsion to channelize these young seekers, the "Thwet" Art Camp was the direct outcome. Thwet literally means 'Quest' and the organization of this art camp facilitated the creation of opportunities for them to explore better avenues and made them aware of the journey of challenges for achieving a goal- a goal for a meaningful destination. Nevertheless, the quest for true art is never-ending because the quest itself embodies a perennial experience which becomes a journey. This journey is overlaid with songs and stories and it is for us to listen to their power and magic and discover ourselves.
The Thoh Shun and Thwet Art camps have generated a platform for exposition of the art that originated from the region. Riti Academy of Visual Arts started the MAD Gallery in the heart of the city and within a short span of time it has helped to throw colour, created an impact and caters to the taste of the people. Even as MAD is an abbreviation for Make-A-Difference, it has an in-built and integrated idea of a taste, which in the Khasi language is MAD; liberal and free-wheeling interpretation and usage may ascribe a certain lunacy, a classically held belief of "a touch of the gods' to the gallery - that would also be appreciably tolerated! This metaphor is an apt name for a confluence, an ensemble, a matrix of creativity brought together through a conflation of passion and art.