Jodhpur Arts Week: This October, The Blue City Turns Into A Work Of Art

Founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha of the Rathore dynasty, the blue city of Jodhpur carries within its time-weathered walls a legacy of craftsmanship deeply embedded in its cultural fabric. This October, the inaugural Jodhpur Arts Week presents Hath Ro Hunar — a celebration of the “skill of the hand,” rooted in Marwari tradition and reimagined through contemporary collaborations. Taking place across the city from October 1 to 7, 2025, the week-long arts festival celebrates the region’s artisanal heritage while challenging long-standing hierarchies between artists, designers, and craftspeople.

Rethinking Authorship

The guiding philosophy of Hath Ro Hunar is to dismantle elitist frameworks that often elevate the “artist” or “designer” above the “maker”. Instead of relegating craftspeople to supporting roles, the inaugural edition of the Jodhpur Arts Week foregrounds them as equal collaborators. “Too often, those who shape our material world are sidelined as unseen makers,” the organisers note. Jodhpur Arts Week encourages a shift in perspective to view craft and design not merely for creating objects to be admired, but as powerful tools for social change and cultural enrichment.

Residencies and co-creation programs form the backbone of this initiative, pairing invited artists with Jodhpur’s master artisans and local communities. The process is not about importing new ideas to overwrite tradition, but about building exchanges where both sides learn and adapt. It’s a model that values preservation and innovation in equal measure.

Through this lens, Hath Ro Hunar positions making not only as an act of individual expression, but as a means of shaping collective memory, identity, and possibility.

Local Crafts Meet Global Collaborations

The featured artists and designers in this inaugural edition, curated by Tapiwa Mat sinde (Design and Craft) and Sakhshi Mahajan (Contemporary Art), underscores the festival’s ambition to be both international and deeply rooted in Jodhpur’s local community. Participating artists include acclaimed names like the Raqs Media Collective, Chila Kumari Singh Burman, and Ayesha Singh, alongside emerging talents like Aku Zeliang, Laxmipriya Panigrahi, and Zavier Wong. Their works take shape in dialogue with Jodhpur’s craftspeople — metalworkers, stone carvers, dyers, weavers, and quilters — many of whom have honed their skills across generations.

Notable collaborators include Kuldeep Kothari from the Rupayan Sansthan (Rajasthan Institute of Folklore), Vijay Prajapat from Umaid Heritage Art School, and the Siddi Women Quilters, who are working with designer Anitha Reddy. These partnerships highlight the diversity of Jodhpur’s craft ecosystem, ranging from the hereditary skills of traditional families to community-led organisations that sustain endangered practices.

Beyond the Object

While exhibitions of co-created works will be a visible highlight, the curatorial vision goes beyond showcasing these objects. Hath Ro Hunar positions making as an act of cultural memory and social change. The festival invites audiences to see craft and design not just as aesthetic outputs but as reflections of who we are as a society and what we value.

Workshops, discussions, and teaching fellowships — such as the PATI x Land programme, which engages young practitioners like Ankita Parihar, Pragya Soni, and Yashvardhan Dave — extend the dialogue to new generations. The emphasis is on sparking critical reflection: how can creators and observers alike shape a more equitable cultural landscape?

A New Cultural Chapter for Jodhpur

With its debut edition, Jodhpur Arts Week positions the sun city as a stage for contemporary global conversations on authorship, identity, and cultural sustainability. By celebrating Hath Ro Hunar — skill of the hand — the festival honours the past, while charting a future where artisanal skill is recognised as central to both artistic innovation and social transformation.

Learn more about the Jodhpur Arts Week programme and venues here.

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