Last of the Gomira mask-makers see silver lining

Art of producing colourful wooden masks has been revived in Kushmundi, and demand for them is global

Culture for development: In the Gomira dance, men play many roles and touch on present-day issues.

Till 2013, Sankar Das, a skilled craftsman carrying forward the 300-year-old tradition of making the unique Gomira wooden masks in north Bengal, lived in obscurity. A native of Kushmundi block in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district, he was among the 200-odd artisans making a living creating these masks for the annual Gomira dance festival held in and around the village.

However, in 2013, after a memorandum of understanding was signed between the West Bengal government and UNESCO to promote culture-based livelihoods, things began to change for the better for these mask-makers.

“Earlier I used to come to the annual crafts fair in Kolkata once a year to sell my masks. Now, with the demand increasing, we are getting orders not only from other cities but also from across the world. I went to France in 2015 and to the United Kingdom in 2016,” Das told

The Hindu .

The 41-year-old artist, who said he has been associated with mask-making for three decades, admitted that had it not been for the support of the government, the art of Gomira mask-making and its traditions would have gone extinct.

According to Banglanatak.com, a social enterprise that partners with UNESCO in capacity building among the mask-makers at the ground level, a survey carried out in 2015 pointed out that not only had the number of masks made by the artists increased, but also the number of days a craftsman put in to prepare the masks had risen from seven to 30 in a month.

Festival to promote art

“Since 2013, a number of initiatives have been taken, which include setting up a training-cum-resource centre at Kushmundi and organising a village folk festival every year. For instance, this year, the festival to promote mask-making will be held from October 27 to October 29,” said Ananya Bhattacharya, director and vice president (projects), at Banglanatak.com.