Contribution short abstract:

Dhokra is an ancient metal craft technique. Though it has thousands of years of legacy, it has changed over time. There have been modifications in technique, visual structure, and functions. This paper studies and analyzes the visual structure and functions of contemporary Dhokra Metalcraft.

Contribution long abstract:

Dhokra artifacts have a traditional hereditary lineage and are practiced in many parts of India. Popularly known as the indigenous technique of Lost wax casting, which dates back to 4000 BCE. Tribal communities of Chhattisgarh’s practice of brass metal craft got christened as Dhokra. It has survived and can flourish due to adaptation and modification. It has brought various tribal communities and their regional flavors into its repertoire but maintains its distinct ethnic features. Dhokra artifacts were made by the artisans of Ghadwa, Malar, and Jhara communities members of the Bastar and Raigarh regions of Chhattisgarh, inspired by regional folklore and as per the requirement of local communities. In due course of time crafts have changed, the drastic change that has occurred is the ways it is consumed today in the urban and digital market, the impact of technology and commercialization of cultural items made the artisans transform tribal utility artifacts into urban material culture and create products inspired by urban folklore. Thus Dhokra Art which has limited functions in the regions has now been used in various contexts and combined with variegated products such as furniture, handbags, bikes, mementos, etc.

Artisans have not changed the structures and functions not only for the sake of the urban consumer but for the regional consumers too, as their lifestyles as well have changed. The present paper will try to learn the visual and functional structure of contemporary Dhokra and discuss the artifacts from the point of the consumer not just the makers.

Contribution short abstract:

The camp art of Bronisław Czech (1908-1944), a Polish sportsman who was deported to KL Auschwitz and died there, forms a poignant, if paradoxical from an aesthetic and iconographic point of view, collection. The key to understanding it is to recognise the context in which they were created.

Contribution long abstract:

The artistic oeuvre of Bronisław Czech (1908-1944), an outstanding Polish ski racer, has so far not been the subject of separate, in-depth studies. The public attention has usually focused on his sporting successes, interrupted by the outbreak of war in 1939 and his imprisonment since 1940 in the Nazi concentration camp KL Auschwitz. Mentions of his paintings on glass, created in the interwar period, appear in publications devoted to the history of painting on glass in the Tatra region in the 20th century. However, his works were treated as an additional occupation performed by the Czech at that time and were considered only an example of the revival of this branch of highland folk art in Podhale. Meanwhile, looking at Czech's work in the context of his biography, and especially his later fate during the war, sheds new light on the role of artistic creativity in his life. The paintings with folk scenes and Tatra landscapes, objects decorated with highland patterns and letters illustrated with watercolours, made in the Auschwitz concentration camp, are a moving trace of the work of prisoner who created to survive. Behind the folkloristic stylisation and cheerful iconography hides the nightmarish every day life of victim of Nazism. Some of the Czech's works, smuggled out of the camp, were also a form of visual communication with the world ‘behind the barbed wire’, which he missed so much and which he never saw again. 20th century painting on glass reveals yet another, non-obvious, poignantly serious face...

Contribution short abstract:

The study examines Macedonian folklore's institutionalization, focusing on Lazarus Day archaic singing. These traditions, linked to agricultural practices. The research highlights folklore elements' survival, institutional challenges.

Contribution long abstract:

The questions of "folk art" have developed uniquely in a region that was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1912 and where manual harvesting was common until the 1970s. This region contains many relics, particularly due to the dense fragmentation of high mountains. One characteristic phenomenon is archaic singing, integral to customs related to agricultural efficiency.

These songs and activities remained outside mainstream Christianity's official liturgical actions for centuries, becoming part of folk beliefs connected to agricultural efficiency. The Macedonian territory typically preserved archaic elements, particularly in singing. These elements, often labeled as pagan, persisted through time. Their extinction began with the spread of global culture.

Through the Lazarus Day songs and customs case study, we highlight the content and institutional questions.

In Macedonian folklore research, the term "folk art" is rarely used. Compared to the Hungarian system, Macedonian research reflects more original forms, although its institutionalization is less developed. Over the last 10 years, our project has focused on undetected folklore elements in the Macedonian custom corpus.

This study elucidates the presence of agricultural cult reminiscences in contemporary society, the influence of folk beliefs on agricultural efficiency, and the changes in folk customs. It also examines Macedonian folklore databases, institutionalization, registration, storage, and research delays. Additionally, it opens opportunities for understanding contemporary perceptions and functional changes of archaic customs, researching mythological parallels, and the poorly documented proto-Slavic culture.

This research enhances understanding of Macedonian traditions and opens new perspectives for studying Central and Eastern European folklore.

Contribution short abstract:

My paper explores how Romani designers in Central Europe explore folk art as a tool of empowerment, transforming it from a nationalized phenomenon into a vibrant and creative practice that dismantles the notion of folk as inherently archaic and static in favor of a transnational folk heritage.

Contribution long abstract:

In Central Europe, the concepts of folk art have historically been closely linked to aspects of national culture, a connection that remains particularly evident today in sartorial fashions, such as folk costumes worn during specific celebrations. In this context, folk art not only incorporates traditional patterns and motifs into contemporary fashion and design but also maintains a strong connection to national identity in the region, increasingly utilized by nationalist parties. This paper aims to rethink these established paradigms in contemporary culture by exploring how present-day folk culture can be viewed through a different lens. It does this by shifting the focus to projects originating from the region’s largest minority: the Roma. By examining initiatives like Romani Design, the paper analyzes how contemporary folk fashion redefines Roma identities in Central Europe by engaging with elements of Hungarian, Slovak, and Roma folk cultures. This engagement challenges stereotypes of the Roma as “outsiders” in modern society and reconceptualizes folk fashion as closely associated with national and rural cultures. The paper thus argues that Romani women designers, in particular, not only rewrite deeply rooted stereotypes in the region, utilizing them as tools of empowerment, but also transform the perception of folk culture from a static, archaic view into an active and contemporary practice that showcases Roma culture as vibrant and creative, while dismantling notions of folk culture as inherently national, aligning instead with a distinctly transnational heritage.

Contribution short abstract:

Beauty portraits with folk art props as a means of references to ethnicity have recently seen a resurgence from self-made photos, to professional and AI imagery. The paper examines the genre from artistic antecedents to the latest AI images, and then proceeds to some Hungarian and Romanian examples.

Contribution long abstract:

The power of visuality in our post-literate global technical age is stronger than ever. Contrary to the general demand of PC-ness, masculine and feminine beauty ideals still dominate the mainstream visual environment. A specific branch of this imagery, serving personal or communal identity expressions or marketing purposes, seems to have recently seen a resurgence, using ethnic and folk art props as a means of nostalgic references to ethnicity in various forms of visual art, from social media photos to advertising, from fashion to entertainment industry and the latest dream imagery of artificial intelligence. The pursuit of polished perfection, imaginative hybridity and exaggerated pomp rather than realism and authenticity is evident. The paper briefly examines the meaning, iconography and style of bucolic folk beauty portraits from their long-run artistic antecedents to the latest AI images, and then proceeds to an analysis of some recent Hungarian and Romanian examples.

Contribution short abstract:

Ethnographic insights into the contemporary uses of folk ornament in Latvia reveal a diverse scene of phenomena ranging from folkloresque manifestations to vernacular creativity. The presentation will explore the relations between folk, vernacular, and popular representations of ornament.

Contribution long abstract:

Ethnographic insights into the contemporary uses of folk ornament in Latvia reveal a diverse scene with creatively recycled elements from traditional culture, inspired by the romanticised past aligned with globally sourced ideas, functioning and flourishing in the conditions of a neoliberal consumerist economy. Apart from traditional practices such as textile production, woodwork, and pottery, folk ornament is used in design, domestic decor, fashion, tattoos, architecture, theme parks, and contemporary spirituality related practices. The diverse manifestations of folk ornament in contemporary culture range from folkloresque representations (Foster & Tolbert 2016) to vernacular creativity. In the presentation those will be explored through two examples of ornament use. First, the presentation will introduce folk ornament as part of the staged folk dance choreographies with a focus on its performances as nationwide identity manifestation at the Latvian Song and Dance festivals. Second, it will discuss themed ornament parks as a distinctive example of a vernacular creative engagement with ornament. Both of these practices are rooted in the specific interpretation of Latvian folk ornament – the ornament and mythology nexus – which refers to the combination of the geometric ornaments of Latvian folk art with mythological entities. In line with the questions proposed by the convenors of the panel, the presentation will discuss the relation between folk, vernacular, and popular representations of ornament in contemporary Latvian culture.

Foster, Michael Dylan, Tolbert, Jeffrey A. (eds.) 2016. The Folkloresque Reframing Folklore in a Popular Culture World. Utah State University Press.

Contribution short abstract:

At a time of rapid economic growth and urbanisation, Swiss ‘folk music’ (Volksmusik) was presented on national television in the 1960s-1990s as a pastoral ideal world. The paper shows how the mass medium created a vernacular idyll and discusses if and how folk musicians rewrite this legacy today.

Contribution long abstract:

This contribution focuses on Swiss "Volksmusik" (folk or popular music) and specific developments in the mass media in the 20th century. These developments still shape the perception and representation of folk music in Switzerland today. The television programmes of the Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) from the 1960s to the 1990s not only document the way in which regional musical cultures were popularised nationally, but also how folk music and the vernacular - despite contemporary renewal - were linked to an imagined and idealised pre-industrial and 'primitive' agrarian society. At a time of rapid economic growth, urbanisation and modernisation, Swiss folk music and folklore was presented as a pastoral idyll and became a nostalgic space of problem-free living. This "ideal world" way of staging folk music was not always approved of by the audience but was also criticized.

In my paper, I would like to outline the ways in which the audiovisual medium of television has created a "folk music" idyll and to discuss ways in which Volksmusik today unwrites this legacy.

Contribution long abstract:

Contemporary fashion often incorporates motifs and themes from folk art, creating a dynamic dialogue between past and present. The ‘'Gypsy Madonna Collection' (by Romani Design) is a unique combination of folk fashion and family portraits. The designers make creative use of stylized Romani motifs. Their clothes also feature Kalocsa embroideries of Hungarian folk art. In their 2021 collection, they substitute their portraits and family photos for images of the Virgin Mary and sacred objects on clothes and accessories, in line with traditional Christian iconology. The 'Gypsy Madonna depicts the Roma woman, the images of them and their family, in a transcendental position among the saints. The face of the Virgin Mary is replaced by a photograph of their mother or grandmother, thus proclaiming a religiously elevated emancipation of Roma women. Their images of the dresses are inscriptions on textiles that carry their biographies. The ‘Gypsy Madonna’, brought to life by the designers, is a performative act of Roma women's identity. However, such explicit acts of writing, of symbolic shaping, also have a significant unwriting background and imaginary discourse. In my paper, I attempt to unpack these unwriting positions. One of these is the unwriting of space, as designers take their garments beyond the standard fashion show into performative spaces (museums, churches, Roma community events) that deconstruct the standard symbolic frame. A more subjective personal yet performative unwriting gesture is the allusive order of the visual world.

Contribution short abstract:

This presentation follows the study of the practice of clay figuration in Portugal. Through a detailed ethnographic study we reveal a view of contemporary Portuguese crafts simultaneously political and aesthetic.

Contribution long abstract:

This presentation follows the study of the practice of clay figuration in Portugal. The ethnographic work was carried out in coordination with Public Institute of Cultural Heritage (Património Cultural - Instituto Público) and aimed to inform the cultural policies of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the arts and crafts. The main outlines of the research converge to understand the current state of the crafts in Portugal, through the detailed study of the practice of clay figuration. We started by investigating the long-term effects of the institutionalisation of crafts, largely delimited by the ethnographic representations of the 19th century and its exploitation by the Estado Novo dictatorship in the 1930s and 1940s, noticing how this is still visible in the social and political dynamics currently taking place in the two areas studied - Barcelos and Estremoz. Next, we examined the traditional knowledge of this practice, noticing how the artisans address and negotiate the intricacy of the different scales, temporalities and narratives present in the work, by balancing the preservation of the traditional themes transmitted by their ancestors, with the introduction of new forms and ideas during the figure making process. We also observed how their work caught the attention of contemporary artists and designers, inspiring creative relationships as well as their own clay figuration practice. The work apprehends the defining aspects of the practice and reveals a view of contemporary Portuguese crafts simultaneously political and aesthetic.

Contribution short abstract:

Barbadian women have been making shellwork souvenirs for centuries, utilizing collective memory and technical skills for financial autonomy. As such traditions are passed down/ modified, and as stories of post-emancipated artistic processes are unveiled, notions of tourist art/ craft become murky.

Contribution long abstract:

Historically believed to have been made by sailors, Sailors’ Valentines are actually souvenirs originating from Barbados crafted by Afro-Barbadian women from c. 1850-1920. These Valentines are wooden, octagonal boxes (often two hinged together) embedded with seashell mosaics. Often, a romantic phrase such as ‘Be Mine’ is illustrated in seashells throughout the mosaics. In the decades following Barbadian emancipation (1834), these women utilized their crafting skills to form cottage industries to financially support themselves. When no longer beholden to plantations, they combined their handicraft knowledge of European fancywork, i.e.: embroidery, ancestral memories of West African Yoruba practices, and regional ‘folk art’ traditions to make the Valentines, which were then sold to northern sailors and tourists. My great-grandfather, who worked on Newfoundland trading schooners in the late 19th century, gave a Valentine to his wife in c. 1890 from Barbados, and it has lived with my family ever since. My grandmother saw it as symbolic of social status—its ‘exotic’ shellwork stood out from her other everyday items, and it became a marker of family identity. The tradition of making and selling shellwork souvenirs to northern tourists continues in Barbados, particularly among working-class women. While aesthetics of shellcraft have changed due to environmental factors and market interests, it remains an inherent part of Barbados’s tourism industry. Using Valentines as a springboard, I examine how cultural creolization, collective memory, economic necessity, and sense of place give rich meaning to ‘souvenirs’, and complicate contemporary (and historical) definitions of folk, tourist, and craft art.