Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya

Documenting existing traditions while helping women in Kutch, India generate income.

Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya is a school in an extremely remote area of India near the Gulf of Kutch whose mission is to promote the traditions of and education among the semi-nomadic camel-herding tribes people of the area.

As the residents of the region have a strong history as artisans of traditional textile-based crafts, the school teaches skills through the lens of helping the students create craft-based businesses. In 2008, I taught a two week course to female students on color sourcing in nature, a subject the students already had a strong intuitive knowledge of, but lacked confidence of their skills and the vocabulary with which to discuss it. (2008)