Aipan art is an established-traditional folk-art originating from the Kumaon region in the Uttarakhand states. The art is drawn mainly during special occasions, household ceremonies, and festivals. Practitioners of Aipan believe that it invokes a divine power that helps us to bring good fortune in the house and deters evil powers from our surroundings.
Aipan is a special art form that is done on empty walls, with a brick-red in color, called Geru. The real and actual Aipan art is done with a white paste made of rice flour on the walls. The Aipan art is frequent to floors of houses and walls of Puja rooms and entrances of homes in Uttarakhand. The Aipan art is practiced mostly by Kumaoni women in Uttarakhand. The art form has its own value of great social, cultural, and religious importance.
The art form is used and learned in different parts of India and is known by different names. The art form known as Aipan and native to Kumaon is always done with a brick-red color, which is also meant to symbolize fortune and fertility for the person’s home.
The traditional Aipan art is transferred down to multiple generations, from mothers to their daughters and daughters-in-law in the family. It was primarily practiced by the rich-upper-class on the occasion of festivals, but now the art has been practiced by everyone in Uttarakhand.
Aipan art of Uttarakhand originated in the Almora district of Uttarakhand, in the reign of the Chand Dynasty in the Kumaon region.
To protect and conserve the folk-art forms, In December 2019, MinakshiKhati started a project with the name ‘ Minakriti the Aipan Project.’ The project aims to relive the folk art that is Aipan art. Under the project to revive the Aipan art so far, 1000 orders have been placed. The project helps to earn income for women from rural households in the Kumaon district of Uttarakhand.