Rabuga Achik Artist (Rabuga Marak), a school-going youth from Betasing, Meghalaya, has emerged as a self-taught painter who uses portraiture to preserve the Songsarek traditions of his A’chik (Garo) community. Working from his village and studying at Chiringpara RMSA Secondary School, Rabuga paints elders-especially grandmothers-in traditional attire, winning district awards and recognition at events in Shillong and under the Chief Minister Youth Program at Ampati. His work aims to document a living culture threatened by the fragility of oral history and the pressures of modern life.
Born into a Songsarek household, Rabuga was shaped early by his father, a practising artist and Songsarek follower, who passed on ancestral stories, ritual values and an ethic of custodianship. Drawing and painting began around age five; his first significant work was a portrait of his grandmother, which he and his family saw as a cultural as well as an artistic awakening. That piece marked the start of a steady commitment to memory through image.
Rabuga’s path has been marked by adversity. A serious childhood illness required surgery and cost him a year of schooling, and he faced social judgement and loss of confidence at school. Economic hardship forced his father to pause his artistic career and work as a bus driver until opportunities for traditional artists expanded during Mukul Sangma’s tenure, allowing the elder’s return to art and offering a model of endurance and faith in creative labour.
His education has been uneven but formative. He attended Emmanuel School, then Kids Land English School where teachers recognized his talent, and later a government school before enrolling at Chiringpara RMSA Secondary School. School encouragement, especially from leadership, enabled Rabuga to compete at district and state levels. He has no formal fine art training; his practice is autodidactic, built through observation, repetition, experimentation and guidance from his father’s example.
Stylistically, Rabuga’s paintings balance emotional realism with ethnographic attention. He works primarily in acrylics, often with modest materials, using fine brushes for expression and broader strokes for atmosphere. His recurring motif-the Songsarek grandmother-functions as an embodied archive: wrinkles read as inscriptions of history, gazes as repositories of time. He describes painting as an ethical act and says he paints “to keep our Songsarek heritage alive for future generations.”
Influences include his father’s quiet discipline and the film Taare Zameen Par, whose story of artistic self-discovery resonated with him. Rabuga shares his process and finished work on Instagram, Facebook and his YouTube channel, RABUGA ACHIK ARTIST, bringing a slow, contemplative practice into wider view. He frames his work as a quiet resistance to the speed of contemporary life, guided by A’chik proverbs such as “Mikrakni mikrak, a·songni a·song” — walk carefully on a path meant for patience — and insists that painting can make vulnerable memories endure.
Original Source: https://theshillongtimes.com/2026/03/01/rabuga-achik-artist-painting-memory-to-preserve-garo-culture-and-songsarek-tradition/
Category: SUNDAY PULLOUT
Tags:
Publish Date: 2026-03-01 02:44:00
