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FROM LEFT: GARETH DEWAR/ALAMY; COURTESY OF ARTBABClockwise:
An installation
showcasing a
traditional coffee shop
in the National
Museum of Bahrain;
colorful murals on the
streets of Manama;
an artwork in Adliya;
a spectator admires
a display at ArtBAB.and near to watch the potters at work and take
home a part of history.
The museum also introduced me to basket-
weaving. Some historians believe that this art-
form came to the Kingdom of Bahrain from India.
Bahrain wears the tag, ‘home of a million palm
trees,’ and the trees are put to good use. While
the dried fruits are best devoured with a cup of
their soothing traditional cardamom coff ee, the
leaves are twisted into baskets. A diorama at the
museum reveals the making process: Choosing
the right leaves, sleight of hand, following a
pattern, braiding the leaves together, and other
tricks of the trade. Like magic, the craftsman is
able to produce mats, vessels, jewellery boxes,
wall-hangings, trinkets, and more. Even today,
the craft is alive in the village of Karbabad,
a 20-minute drive from the capital.
More recently, the country is seeing a growth
in her visual arts. The very fi rst government-
recognised painting class was introduced
in the 80s, and today Bahrain boasts of several
art galleries. There’s also some funky street art:While there were many ports in the Indus Valley,
Lothal in Gujarat was an important one,
making Bahrain’s relationship with Gujarat
span several centuries.
Much like the Indus civilisation, Dilmun too
has a rich history of pottery. A diorama recreates
an ancient village scene with a potter working the
wheel. I also spotted well-preserved artefacts of
clay pots, pans, and other vessels that have been
excavated from burial mounds in A’ali, a town
that’s a short 30-minute drive from Manama.
Bahrain has, what is believed to be, the largest
prehistoric cemetery in the world. While many
of the burial mounds have given way to malls,
residential apartments, and offi ces, some of them
have been preserved. And you’re likely to spot
them in A’ali. A quick visit to this town also reveals
that pottery making is still practised here, though
the trade isn’t half as popular as it was in the days
of Dilmun. Yet, even today, it remains a family
business. The secrets of pottery are whispered
from father to son, and the method
has changed just a bit over the centuries.
A special mud, revered for its malleability,
is fetched from Riff a, the second largest city in
Bahrain. In the olden days, it was transported
on camel-back; today the distance between the
two towns is covered by an 11-minute drive in
a four-wheel. The mud is mixed with water and
left to dry to sift out stones. Next, it is put to the
wheel, where the potter uses his feet to spin the
larger bottom wheel which, in turn, generates
power to keep the upper wheel spinning. With
agile fi ngers, he moulds the clay, and the vessel
is born. It is decorated with paint which dries in
the sun and later, it is placed into kilns. Earlier,
the kilns were built into the burial moulds; today
gas ovens are the norm. Tourists come from farThe secrets of pottery are
whispered from father to son,
and the method has changed
just a bit over the centuries.
BEYOND
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