20-YO Assam Girl’s Magnificent Leaf-Cutting Art Tells Story, One Leaf At A Time

20-YO Assam Girl’s Magnificent Leaf-Cutting Art Tells Story, One Leaf At A Time

When a leaf falls from a tree, infuse life in it again! Well, that seems to be the mantra of 20-year-old Jeuti Pathak hailing from Tihu in Nalbari district of Assam who is a record holder in the artistic genre of leaf-cutting art.

A student of Bachelor of Arts in Sanskrit at Bhattadev University, Bajali, she has breathed life and soul to more than 400 leaves with her intricate leaf carving art. She uses leaves as a canvas to paint and carve out designs.

Carving on leaves is a new form of art that is gradually picking up in India, and requires both skill and creativity.

Leaf carving involves delicate trimming of leaves to form a portrait or landscape. This carving originated from China and gained popularity in 1994 by artist Huag Tai Sheng after he got the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize his work.

Jeuti Pathak, passionate about paintings, creates bottle-art designs, stones art, tea art, mobile cover painting, coin art, CD art, jewellery designs and rice grain art. As 2020 lockdown puts everyone locked inside home, she finds a way to beat the lockdown blues by experimenting with leaf-cutting and leaf painting.

She is self-taught and kept practising till she sharpened her skills.  For the leaf cutting art, she draws on the leaf and cut with a razor.

Turning her hobby into profession, Jeuti now takes orders through her Facebook page. The pricing varies according to the level of difficulty and detailing in each leaf art. She holds each leaves to the sky before clicking to allow the sunlight to reveal the minute details.

Jeuti started off with names cutting on the leaves with normal blades, and then moved on to designing gods and goddesses, landscapes, historical monuments, and portraits of famous personalities including Assam’s Pride Bhupendra Hazarika.

Each leaf design is extraordinarily imaginative, and has a story to tell. Assam’s everyday rustic life of fishing, farming, weaving, Bihu festival, and popular pilgrim centres Kamakhya Temple and Kedarnath have been incredibly etched in her leaves art. For perfection, she now uses professional blades for carving.

When she told us she usually takes less than 30 mins to complete a leaf art, we were amazed. Speaking to The neVibes, she says, “If it is an easy art, I take about 15 mins, and a difficult one takes about 45 minutes. But in my initial days when I just started off, I took a lot of time to complete one art.”

She mostly uses the leaves of jackfruit and peepal trees to craft her designs.

Jeuti was awarded the India Book of Record and Assam Book of Record for the leaf-cutting design. The certificate mentioned - “The record for being the skilled leaf artist was set by Jeuti Pathak (born on July 1, 2001) of Nalbari, Assam. She made The Taj Mahal, Mona Lisa, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and rhino by cutting a Peepal leaf using a razor, as confirmed on August 17, 2020.”

She has performed LIVE leaf-cutting at the ‘Sangham’ event held on Valentine’s Day, 2021 in Nalbari district. Till now, she has carved more than 400 designs on leaf. She laminates the leaf art and, frames for those who want it that way, and delivers all over India.

Jeuti’s parents Nabajit Pathak (father) and Dipali Pathak (mother) have been supportive of her interest. She also expresses her gratitude to her college teachers, and friends for their encouragement and support.

What do you have to say about this immensely talented girl?

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