Dream Kitsch — Folk Art, Indigenous Media and `9/11'

Abstract

This article explores the process of transmission of the image(s) of 9/11 through an ethnographic/art-historical examination of Bengali (Indian) pat (traditional scroll painting) made by a community of rural Indian artisans with little or no exposure to mass-media. It transpires that while the impact of mass-media — often held responsible for the extinction of `authentic' folk art — has been somewhat exaggerated, the argument put forward here is that the putative anteriority of a time before representation, is largely an illusion.