Discovering Odia (Not Odissi), One Akhyara A Day With Azkia Aarif

Discovering Odia (Not Odissi), One Akhyara A Day With Azkia Aarif

Passion is an energy that drives people to their limits and reveals their latent talents. Born and brought up in Bhubaneswar, Odisha and currently based in Toronto, Canada, artist and graphic designer Azkia Aarif, an alumna of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Kannur, has launched an Instagram campaign, #63daysofodiatype, to popularise Odia script and numerical, in a fun way to make the language known to the masses, through illustrations and designs through the handle #63daysofodiatype. My City Links candidly got into a conversation with the 29 year-old, to know the idea behind this unique campaign.

Aim

63 Days of Odia Type is a project that invites designers, illustrators and graphic artists across India, to express their mood of interpretation of the Odia letters and numerals. “It’s a way to explore the creative boundaries of lettering where the artists are given prompts to design a letter or numeral each day for 63 consecutive days. 53 Odia alphabets and 10 numerals, one alphabet or numeral is promoted each day. It is also a way to show an artist’s perspective of the same symbol in various ways. Apart from spreading awareness about the Odia (not Odissi) script, it is aimed to be a creative space that plays around typography and endless possibilities of perspectives. It also provides a platform of recognition for the participating artists,” shared the initiator. Though a tedious task, the 63 day project will help artists develop and discover a certain style of work. Just like any other language, she aims to come up with numerous creative fonts in an easy downloadable fashion in Odia as well, for the digital media. 

Initiative

The campaign commenced on 1st April, 2021, on the occasion of Utkal Diwas, and has been running strong since then. “Starting the campaign was always on my mind but something or the other always popped up and I couldn’t go ahead with the idea. The lockdown has been a series of some or the other trend and challenges so I thought why not give it a shot. I had worked as a social media manager for a while and the experience worked. It was a word-of-mouth marketing through friends but a lot of people actually joined in, as soon as an account was created exclusively dedicated for the campaign. There are typography enthusiasts all over the world so I think the hashtags really worked,” shared Azkia on the execution of the plan.

Inspiration

Inspired by global initiatives like ‘36 days of type’ and ‘Inktober’ that are conducted every year on a similar note, Azkia took it upon herself to publicize the lesser known language. “Each day is assigned to a particular prompt and the artists design or letter the prompts. All the participants share their artwork via Instagram by uploading their interpretations while using the project’s hashtag #63daysofodiatype and the artwork is showcased on the Instagram handle @63daysofodiatype for each day of the challenge. Drawing for 63 days in a row is a big challenge in itself and I feel the dedication will mount to curiosity for many to learn the script and the language and know more about it,” cheered Azkia.

“I studied Odia as my third language till my 4th grade and later my first stint with Odia literature was when I read FM Senapati’s Rebati in English. It dawned upon me then that being an Odia myself, it is better to prep up my Odia reading and writing skills to enjoy reading more. You start connecting with your roots more when you leave your comfort zone,” she added.

Idea

Despite never studying the Odia language, she was fascinated by it, at a later stage in life. 

“What interests me about the Odia language is that its written form stands out because of their curved appearance. Since it was written initially on palm leaves, too many straight lines were avoided to prevent the leaves from tearing,” she informed. The artist also educates people about interesting aspects of Odia script and numerals through the Instagram page. “It is unknown to many people these days that there are nine siblings of the widely used style of Odia language, each of which have acquired their names as per the areas in which they are used. Such is the beauty of the Odia language,” Azkia takes pride in the Odia language.

Participants/Recognition

This initiative involves artists, illustrators, typographers and graphic designers and the common public as well. “A lot of typographers who joined in, on the first day of making the account itself, helped a lot in spreading the word. But the turning point was when the campaign was covered by a local newspaper and that eventually led to minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeting about it. That gave us a push and came to the public’s notice,” she quipped.

Intersection of technology & social media can put things in perspective in an interesting way.Azkia Aarif's campaign #63daysofodiatype to allow creative minds,illustrators & graphic artistes to interpret Odia typography in traditional & interesting styles is a commendable effort pic.twitter.com/QhzVdXKdgb

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) April 18, 2021

Family

Hailing from a supportive and encouraging family, Azkia prides herself in having all the good genes. “My father was a Block Development Officer and my mother was a teacher. My sister is the studious one and I’m not. I think the decision-making and leadership qualities in me are paternal while the creative side has been a maternal instinct. My husband, though a software professional, happens to be the one to push me to think beyond my boundaries and comfort zone. He has been instrumental in pushing me to commence this initiative as well,” laughs the charming lady, who is a  freelance illustrator and graphic designer and likes to be her own boss. 

Pastime

A lover of nature, Azkia strives to create DIY greenhouses to plant anything that is possible to grow by beating the cold Toronto weather. “I collect Hot Wheels cars and I love gardening! Whether working or not, you can find me chatting with my three cats. One of my cats, Cookie, has come with me from India to the United States and then eventually to Canada. I’m also the kind who doesn’t enjoy cooking much but definitely enjoys eating and looking at food pictures on the Internet,” giggles the cat-lady.

Future Plans

The campaign #63daysofodiatype is scheduled to come to an end on 3rd June 2021. Post the 63-day campaign, Azkia plans to shift focus on different dialects of Odia consisting of an easy range of words as prompts for the artists. “Odisha is blessed with various interesting dialects of the Odia language, like Midnapori Odia in Midnapore and the list goes on a similar line as, Singhbhumi, Baleswari, Ganjami (spoken in Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, and Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh), Sambalpuri, Desiya, Bhatri, Halbi, and Phulbani,” she said. “Odia grammar is very simple with no gender in verbs or pronouns and an interesting fact about it is that in the Odia language, poetry came first and later essays took shape,” she added.