Did you email galleries or just walk in with your work?
I emailed for months and got nothing but silence or the polite we'll keep you in mind. Then one afternoon I just walked into a small gallery here in Kraków with a folder of prints and asked if anyone had ten minutes to look. The owner was so surprised she actually laughed at me, but she looked. Nothing came of it in the end, but it was the only real conversation I ever got.
So I'm wondering now, who here emails and who just walks in? And for those who did walk in, did it ever actually lead anywhere or was it always just a nice chat that went nowhere? I keep thinking I should try it again but I'm not sure I have the nerve a second time 🙂
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Walking in gives you the human thing, which the email can never give you. When they see your face and your hands, they remember you. Email is too easy to ignore, ji.
In my work it is different because Mithila painting is folk art, so the galleries are not the main road. We sell through cooperatives, through exhibitions arranged by the government, through people who know the tradition already. But even so, I have done the walk-in myself a few times when I travelled to Delhi or Patna with my papers and colours. Sometimes they look, sometimes they are busy. But one shopkeeper in Delhi, she saw my fish motif and said it reminded her of her grandmother's house. Even if she bought nothing that day, she called me two years later for a commission. The conversation stayed with her.
So I would say, do not stop the emailing, but the walking in is where the connection happens. And even when nothing comes, at least you stood in front of a person and your work was seen. That has its own value. If you have the courage, try it again. What is the harm in one more conversation?
The Delhi shopkeeper story sounds like you were about to say something good happened there. What did she do, ji? Because I think we all collect these small openings as proof it can work, even when nothing big comes of it. I emailed one place here for almost a year and got one reply that was clearly a form letter, so I stopped bothering. Walking in at least means you go home knowing you tried with your whole self, not just your inbox.
She didn't do anything grand, that's the thing. She just took the folder when I handed it over, flipped through maybe four sheets while I stood there, and then she looked at me and said "you made this?" like it was a real question. That was it. No sale, no promise, but a person actually looked at my work with her own eyes and didn't hate it. I've replayed that moment more than I'd like to admit.
And yes, exactly that. The emails feel like shouting into a well. Walking in you at least get to see their face when they decide, and you know you gave it everything you had in person. That counts for something even when it goes nowhere. I keep telling myself that when I get the nerve to do it again. Have you tried it often, or was it more of a one-time brave thing?
I didn't know Mithila painting at all until you mentioned it, so I looked it up just now and I'm a bit lost for words. The colours, the way the whole surface fills up. It's like a completely different idea of what a picture is for.
That bit about the shopkeeper in Delhi, I want to hear the rest, did she take the time in the end? Because you're right about the human thing. When I walked into that gallery in Kraków the owner laughed at me, but she also sat down and actually spread my prints out on the table. Nobody ever did that from an email. Even with nothing coming of it, that afternoon meant more to me than a year of polite nothing.
It makes me wonder if folk art has it easier in some ways. Galleries are such a narrow door. A cooperative, people who already care about the tradition, that sounds almost like being among friends instead of asking for favours.