Orijit Sen (born 1963) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

and

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

. His graphic novel '' River of Stories'', published in 1994 by

Kalpavriksh Kalpavriksh is a non-profit organisation based in India with its office in Pune, Maharashtra. The organisation takes up research, networking, education, grassroots work, advocacy and activism in the field of environment, ecology, development, and ...

, is considered as the first graphic novel of India. He co-founded People Tree in 1990 as a "collaborative studio and store for artists, designers, and craftspeople." He is one of the founders o
The Pao Collective
of comic book artists. He is Mario Miranda Chair visiting professor at Goa University. His diverse works, which include public art works, have been exhibited in India, England, Russia, France, Japan, Canada, and various other countries.

Biography

Orijit Sen studied at the

National Institute of Design The National Institutes of Design (NID) are a group of autonomous public design institutes in India, with the first institute established in 1961 in Ahmedabad. The other NIDs are located in the cities of Kurukshetra, Amaravati, Jorhat and Bho ...

(NID),

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

in the 1980s. He recalled that "I read whatever

underground comics Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

I could get my hands on. These included

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...

and

Art Spiegelman Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman ( ; born February 15, 1948), professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazin ...

. I was blown away by Spiegelman’s ''

Maus ''Maus'', often published as ''Maus: A Survivor's Tale'', is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a History of the Jews in P ...

''." In his words, ''Maus'' validated his artistic convictions and inspired him to pursue drawing and making comics. After leaving NID Ahmedabad, Sen got involved with the

Narmada Bachao Andolan ''Narmada Bachao Andolan'' (NBA, , 'Save the Narmada River Movement') is an Indian social movement spearheaded by native tribals (''adivasis''), farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against a number of large dam projects across ...

and worked closely with the activists and the displaced

adivasis The Adivasi (also transliterated as Adibasi) are heterogeneous tribal groups across the Indian subcontinent. The term is a recent invention from the 20th century and is now widely used as a self-designation by groups classified as Scheduled Tr ...

. With the help of a grant from the non-profit organisation

, Sen created India's first graphic novel, '' River of Stories''. Sen faced a tough time trying to find readers for '' River of Stories''. Many "bookshops refused to stock it as it didn’t fit into any of the categories that they displayed" and Sen was compelled to stock it at his studio and shop People Tree. ''River of Stories'' was long out of print. However, in the last decade in India, a loyal and serious readership of graphic novels and comic books has been developing gradually, and in 2022 Blaft Publications released a new edition of ''River of Stories'', with a foreword by

Arundhati Roy Suzanna Arundhati Roy (; born 24 November 1961) is an Indian author best known for her novel ''The God of Small Things'' (1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. ...

. Sen created ''Telling Tales'' for over two years for ''India Magazine''. He worked on the illustration for ''Trash!: On Ragpicker Children and Recycling'' (2004). He collaborated with Manipuri artists to create ''IMUNG: Manipur Home Care Handbook'', a guide for HIV and AIDS healthcare in Manipur. He put together a set of comics for the

National Council of Educational Research and Training National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) () is an autonomous organisation of Ministry of Education, the Government of India. Established in 1961, it is a literary, scientific and charitable Society under the Societies Reg ...

(NCERT), India. Sen is creating the visual identity of the first ever India-Palestine theatre collaboration ''Freedom Jatha'' between

Jana Natya Manch Jana Natya Manch (People's Theatre Front; Janam for short) is a New Delhi–based amateur Theatre of India, theatre company specialising in left-wing street theatre in Hindi. It was founded in 1973 by a group of Delhi's radical theatre amateurs ...

(Janam), Delhi, India and

The Freedom Theatre The Freedom Theatre (Arabic: مسرح الحرية) is a Palestinian community-based theatre and cultural center in the Jenin refugee camp, in Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank, Palestine. Established in 2006, the theatre aims to gener ...

, Jenin, Palestine; he's designed five original Freedom Jatha artworks. Sen's collaboration with Janam dates back to 1992 when he first designed the set, poster, and brochure for the production of Govind Purushottam Deshpande's ''Satyashodhak'' on the life and times of

Jyotirao Phule Jyotirao Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890), also known as Jyotiba Phule, was an Indian social activist, businessman, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields, including eradication of ...

. The Janam logo is also a 2007 creation by Sen.

Projects

The Pao Collective - Sen is one of the five founders of The Pao Collective. Founded in 2009, the collective aims to "support comics as a medium and a culture in India. Originally, they imagined establishing an outpost of sorts for comics culture in Delhi, from which they could reach out to and support creators in other cities and areas around the country." ''PAO: the Anthology of Comics Volume 1'', published by

Penguin India Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a smal ...

in 2012, won the 2nd Comic Con India Awards 2012 in the Best Graphic Anthology category. A Place In Punjab - 7 storey-high "walk-through mural experience" that takes the visitor through sights and insights of Punjabi life at the Virasat-e-Khalsa in

Anandpur Sahib Anandpur Sahib, also referred simply as Anandpur (), is a city in Rupnagar district (Ropar), on the edge of Shivalik Hills, in the Indian state of Punjab. Located near the Sutlej River, the city is one of the most sacred religious places in Si ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. Sen conceived this mural project and worked with 13 collaborators to execute it. It opened in November 2011. The multimedia museum Virasat-e-Khalsa in which Sen's mural creation is located was designed by renowned Boston-based architect

Moshe Safdie Moshe Safdie (; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author. He is well known for incorporating principles of socially responsible design throughout his six-decade career. His projects include cultural, ed ...

. Mapping Mapusa Market - As the Mario Miranda Chair visiting professor at Goa University, Sen initiated Mapping Mapusa Market. It brings together "artists, designers, writers, teachers, students and interested members of the public to explore and document the complex life of the Mapusa Market in Goa from a variety of perspectives- illustrations, photographs, videos and interviews. The project looked at how a historical market evolved and how it is coping with the challenges of globalisation, consumerism and supermarket and mall culture".

Awards

''PAO: The Anthology Of Comics 1'' by

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

won the 2nd Comic Con India Awards 2012 in the Best Graphic Anthology category.

Exhibitions

*2015 ''The Disappearing Tiger'', a T-shirt designed by Sen, featured in ''"The Fabric of India"'' exhibition at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London. *2015 ''From Punjab, with Love'' at Surrey Art Gallery, North Surrey, Canada - a digital reproduction of Sen's famous 75-metre-long fibreglass and acrylic mural at the Moshe Safdie designed Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum in Anandpur Sahib, India * 2014 ''Imposters'' — an exhibition of screen printed posters at Galleryske,

Bengaluru, India Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore ( its official name until 1 November 2014), is the capital and largest city of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. As per the 2011 census, the city had a population of 8.4 million, making it the third ...

*2012 ''A Place In Punjab'' at Galleryske,

Bibliography

*'' River of Stories'' (Kalpavriksh, 1994) *''Telling Tales'', a column for ''India Magazine'' * Illustration work for ''Trash!: On Ragpicker Children and Recycling'' (2004) *''IMUNG: Manipur Home Care Handbook'', a guide for HIV and AIDS healthcare in Manipur *''Hair Burns Like Grass'' (in ''PAO: The Anthology Of Comics 1'' by Penguin Books, India, 2012) *''Emerald Apsara'' (in ''The Obliterary Journal'' by Blaft Publications, 2012 ) *''A Travancore Tale''

References

External links

The Pao CollectiveKalpavriksh“I don’t think you can be an artist if life gets handed to you on a platter”
- in conversation with Orijit Sen on GraphicShelf {{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Orijit 1963 births Living people Indian graphic designers National Institute of Design alumni 20th-century Indian designers