03/10/2026
This October, a desert remembers what it almost forgot. Artist and folklorist Madan Meena has spent fourteen years tracing the threads of Marwar’s block-printing tradition — cracked wooden blocks left behind in village back rooms, patterns no one had carved in a hundred years — back to the hands that first made them. What emerged is an archive of over 600 lost designs, more than 400 of them brought back to life, pulled from research across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Sindh. The research will be on view as the Prints of Marwar exhibition at Kaner Retreat, from 29th to 31st October — staged inside the very desert commons that grew these motifs, and returned, at last, to the artisans, elders and printing communities it was always meant for. Click the link in bio to read the full piece.
Photography by Madan Meena malini saigal and Waseem
Words by Samara Fernandes
[ Prints of Marwar, Madan Meena, Marwar Block Printing, Rajasthan Textiles, Indian Craft, Textile Heritage, Traditional Block Printing, Craft Preservation, Folk Art, Kaner Retreat ]
