Crafts exhibition puts artisans in the spotlight

Sartyoon Sang event connects Sindh's female artisans to urban markets

KARACHI: Artisans dedicate their entire lives to creating masterpieces, but their work goes unappreciated in urban centres like Karachi, said Syed Nasir Shah, the provincial minister for local government, forests and religious affairs, on Friday.

He was inaugurating the seventh Sartyoon Sang Crafts exhibition, organised by the Sindh Rural Support Organisation in collaboration with the provincial government. The three-day exhibition, which showcases the work of 3,545 female artisans from across Sindh, aims to promote ethical fashion and connect rural women and artisans to markets.

"We need to be very practical in understanding the issues of women on the ground and should solve them in ways that will bring about change," asserted Shah, adding that platforms like the exhibition helped indigenous artisans bring their products into the limelight. He further said that e-commerce was also linking the artisans of Sindh to the rest of the world.

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"It is the government's responsibility to not let the work of these artisans die and to appreciate the laborious work needed to create their handicrafts," said the minister, while appreciating the SRSO's endeavours to promote the crafts of some of the most marginalised women in Sindh.

SRSO CEO Muhammad Dittal Kalhoro explained that the exhibition's objective was to facilitate better incomes for the female artisans of rural Sindh. "We have trained over 15,000 women from some of the most under-developed regions of Jacobabad, Kandhkot-Kashmore, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Khairpur and Sukkur," he said, adding that they had incorporated urban trends into their work in order to improve their opportunities.

Crowds of visitors showed up at the first day of the exhibition to look at the exquisite handicrafts on display, including home textiles, basketry, jewellery, dresses and shawls embellished with traditional embroidery and cutwork. According to Kalhoro, the artisans had also used innovations such as net-work to set their crafts apart from what is available in the local markets.

Profits earned from the exhibition will be given to the artisans, many of whom hail from remote villages in northern Sindh. The exhibition also aims to kickstart a process for connecting the artisans and business development groups to the high-end market of the metropolis.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2020.