Rogan art

What is death???
It’s nothing but the demise of hope.
A notion, that nothing can be done now,
A notion, that there’s nothing left,
A notion, that end is near,
The feeling of nothingness…
But, some people have the tendency to overcome that,
They always find a way,
No matter what,
And stay alive in the hearts of millions…
Forever and ever.
The beautiful and enormously time consuming Rogan art by an artist from Gafurbhai’s family of Nirona village. Gafur Bhai has won many national and state awards for preserving the art form that was about to be extinct. His art works were also gifted to the President Obama when our respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited him on one of his US visit. In 1983, Gafurbhai reintroduced the art form and made it more intricate and refined from what their early ancestors used to do. He even started providing classes to the local villagers few years back, so that the art does not get extinct. So now, there’s not just one family left (rectifying the information provided on Internet on many other sites that talk of Kutch artworks and embroideries) to carry the art forward, but several other artists are learning it to keep the art and heritage of their village alive. And all thanks to Gafurbhai Ji, that now there are at least handful of artists in the village of Nirona who will maintain and preserve this beautiful Rogan art that is practiced nowhere in the world but Nirona.