Jodhpur Arts Week: Edition 1.0

October 1st to 7th, 2025

Hath Ro Hunar I Skill of the Hand

The city of Jodhpur was founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha of the Rathore dynasty, and remains steeped in tradition, with a legacy of craftsmanship embedded in its cultural fabric. Hath Ro Hunar, meaning ‘skill of the hand’ in Marwari, celebrates the deep-rooted artisanal expertise passed down through generations, continually reshaped by its practitioners.

By challenging the elitist frameworks that elevate the figure of the ‘artist’/‘designer’ above that of the ‘maker,’ Jodhpur Arts Week foregrounds collaborative authorship. It centers the local community as co-creators, highlighting their voices, names, and contributions, and resisting the tendency to relegate their contributions to the margins of artistic recognition. Too often, those who shape our material world are sidelined as unseen makers. Invited artists and designers come to observe, understand, and co-create with local custodians, fostering an exchange of knowledge that respects time-honoured practices while embracing fresh ideas.

Jodhpur Arts Week encourages a shift in perspective to view craft and design not merely for creating objects to be admired, but as powerful tools for social change and cultural enrichment.

Inviting both creators and observers to reflect on their own potential to influence and transform their societies, Hath Ro Hunar urges its contributors to create a positive legacy of enduring impact, reflecting the intertwining influences that shape them. Each artist and designer’s work emerges from a co-created residency and learning exchange programme engaging contemporary creators, master artisans, and Jodhpur’s communities.

The objects created speak volumes about who we are as a society and what we value. Through this lens, Hath Ro Hunar positions making not only as an act of individual expression, but as a means of shaping collective memory, identity, and possibility.