Patua Pinocchio, The

About Swarna Chitrakar & Carlo

Carlo Collodi Born Carlo Lorenzini this 19th century Italian children's author was best-known by his pen name Carlo Collodi under which he wrote the world-famous title 'The Adventures of Pinocchio'. It was originally published on a weekly basis in the children's newspaper Il Giornale per i Bambini and Carlo passed away before Pinocchio became well-known outside of Italy. Swarna Chitrakar Trained in the traditional Patua form of folk art by her father and uncle Swarna hails from West Bengal in India. Despite marrying into a family that disapproved of women painting Swarna - with support from her husband - went on to become an extremely successful artist. Patua is a folk form that combines performance storytelling and art. Traditionally artists were itinerant travelling from village to village to sign from painted scrolls that they would unroll as they performed.