Boing Boing » indian

Bollywood Easter: Images of Christ in '70s poster art from India

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:05:22 +0000

My brother Carl Hamm (Twitter), who is a club and radio DJ and a collector of obscure but excellent global stuff, shares the images in this post and says:

There's a long tradition of Indian poster art which was probably at its height in the 1970s but goes back many many years before then. Youve already seen vivid and colorful posters for Hindi films.
Often the same artists who were painting "pinup" style posters of bollywood heros and heroines were also painting similarly colorful calendar and poster art of gods, goddesses, politicians, national heros, etc.
The artists' subjects were diverse and sometimes included icons of the west -- including Jesus as seen here. (Ive also seen posters of Kennedy)
Poster artists would also paint advertisements for perfume, bicycle manufacturers, beedi vendors, health tonic, insurance companies and banks, political campaigns, car batteries, makeup and feminine hygiene products.. and would incorporate the same lavish style in the ads for these ordinary products -- and often include either a film star or even a religious deity on the same advertisement.
It was also common for religious posters like these to have a calendar (sometimes with rotating wheels with the date) and a company name.
I'm currently reading a great book on the subject of Indian poster art called Gods in the Bazaar.
Since today is Good Friday, I'm sharing a few interesting depictions of Jesus; I'm sharing others as examples of the other diverse subject matter these artists were painting for calendars, ads, and "inspirational pinups".

Some of the studios/artists here include: JB KHANNA AND CO (Madras aka Chennai) "Jesus life," S.J BRIJBASI AND SONS "Holy Family", and STUDIO SVARAS, "Jesus with arms outstretched."

(Source: random piles of stuff on the internet. Artists unknown, alas.)

Gangnam Canadian Inuit Style

Xeni Jardin — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 16:36:03 +0000

A Gangnam Style video from the students of Nunavut Sivuniksavut, a college program based in Ottawa for Inuit youth from Nunavut. (thanks, James McCullough)

Indigenous Brazilians fight Amazon dam project (big photo gallery)

Xeni Jardin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:43:03 +0000

Native Brazilians from the Amazon basin demonstrate against the construction of the planned Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, in Brasilia February 8, 2011. Proposed to be built along the Xingu River in the state of Para, the dam would be the world's third largest at planned capacity, though environmentalists and native Brazilians have raised concerns that the project may displace indigenous tribes and damage the environment. Here is a recap of the issue on Global Voices, and below, more photographs from the protest this week.

(photos: REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino)

Above, a protester eats ice cream.

The sign with a portrait of President Dilma Rousseff reads, "Stop Belo Monte."

The sign above reads, "No Belo Monte dam on the Xingu."

Brazilian indigenous people protest outside Brazil's electric energy agency Aneel in Brasilia April 20, 2010, against the construction of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric power plant in the Xingu River. Aneel suspended the auction of the 11,000 megawatt Belo Monte hydroelectric dam that was scheduled for midday (1500 GMT) on Tuesday because of an injunction filed by a public prosecutor in a federal court, ordering it to suspend the auction. Aneel is prepared to go ahead even if the injunction is overturned just minutes before the established time for the auction of the high profile hydroelectric project.

A Greenpeace member protests outside Brazil's electric energy agency Aneel in Brasilia April 20, 2010, against the construction of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric power plant in the Xingu River.