Text: SPAN / Trans World Features
Image: Kamala Chandrasekhar/Henna World
The Indian tradition of applying henna for festive occasions is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. SPAN writer Jane Varner Malhotra reports from Washington D.C.
At her aunt's recent cross-cultural wedding, my 11-year-old daughter, Helen, made a new friend -the henna artist. Helen sat by the woman's side for hours during the mehndi ceremony, mesmerised as the henna cone danced across the guests' hands, forming intricate patterns in a matter of minutes. By the time the exhausted but friendly henna artist left the party, I'm pretty sure my delighted daughter's hands and arms offered a complete catalogue of all the woman's patterns and motifs.
For many of the older American guests, this was their first henna experience, but the under-30 crowd certainly knew the routine. These days, town festivals, shopping malls, farmers' markets and beach resorts across the US have become host to an increasing number of henna artists. Men, women and children are lining up to enjoy the elaborate and temporary tattoos as more people become familiar with the art form. Women seeking mehndi for weddings no longer have to drive for hours to find an experienced artist.
Every major city now offers a selection of professional henna studios; with the help of the Internet, many artists can be found in remote areas as well.
Why is henna becoming so popular in the US? Body art is on the rise in general. According to a 2006 study by the Pew Research Center, one in three Americans aged 18 to 25 now have tattoos. But many Americans are reluctant to take the permanent tattoo plunge, and henna offers an attractive alternative. "Natural, painless and temporary-people like that," says henna artist Kamala Chandrasekhar of Santa Clara, Bay Area in California. "They're in awe of the art form and the elaborate Indian designs," she adds.
When she moved to the US in the '80s, Chandrasekhar worked as an instructor of Bharatanatyam dance. Later, as her career and a search for better weather took her from Minnesota to California, she began to experiment with henna designs she had learned from a master henna artist while visiting family in India. In 1999, after years of daily practice-on friends, family and herself-someone at a local beauty parlor admired the work on her left hand and asked her who did it.
"When I told her I'd done it myself, she said she had a bride who needed her henna done," recalls Chandrasekhar. "In those days there were not many henna artists in the area and she convinced me to do it. I was nervous and it took a long time. But it came out better than I expected, and by word of mouth soon many people were calling me, and there was no looking back."
In the beginning, Chandrasekhar's customers were primarily young Indian women looking for extensive bridal henna, but things have changed. "I still do a lot of weddings but now 80 percent are cross-cultural, with Indians marrying Mexicans, Chinese, Vietnamese. I see this great mix of different cultures happening. It makes me so happy to have henna playing a central role in bringing people together."
While her traditional, bridal henna is done with the same level of intricacy as in India, demand is also rising for simple, tattoo-style designs at birthday parties, festivals, picnics and corporate events. "I've seen a big surge in henna parties, with a lot of non-Indians and some Indians, too, for 50th birthdays, children's birthdays, and bridal and baby showers," Chandrasekhar says. Baby showers, where the expectant mother is celebrated and "showered" with gifts for the baby, have become a growing part of Henna World, the name of Chandrasekhar's business.
On the opposite coast, amid the hustle and bustle of New York City, henna artist Sandy Patangay finds tranquility and intimacy through her work.
"Without henna in this busy city, I don't think I'd get to know so many interesting people," she explains. "Henna is an art of patience, and it relaxes. So when you do henna, it holds two people together in hours of conversation-so rare these days-and a real connection grows."
Henna opens doors, too. "The work brings me into people's homes, so I have really explored New York City. Event planners hire me to work in beautiful venues. I even worked for a royal family from the Middle East living for a month in the penthouse of the Waldorf Astoria," recalls Patangay. "The princess showed me her baby album, and told me about how she spends her days. She was surprisingly down to earth."
Now in her mid-30s, Patangay grew up in India practicing henna with her family at home. She moved from Hyderabad in 1998 and studied at the New York Institute of Technology. She notes that most of her friends and fellow students knew little of her hobby and she had no intention of making a business from it. However, through a referral, the American Museum of Natural History invited her to be part of a weekend body art exhibit and represent India and henna artistry. "As a new immigrant, I couldn't have asked for a better venue to exhibit my work. Soon my business grew and shortly after the event, I opened Henna Studio, Inc.," she says.
Although in India henna is more commonly part of a beauty salon package along with nails, eyebrows and a facial, in the US, Patangay finds that henna has a different purpose. "Many American clients use henna to explore innovative ideas. The applications can be very creative. For instance, one of my clients wanted her thumb impression done in henna on her ankle. It was a challenge to do a same size finger print in henna, but in the end it was fun."
Some customers get a little too creative. Once a man called Patangay to ask for henna done as a pair of decorative shorts. She was never able to find time for that client. "One woman wanted a turtle on her bottom," she laughs.
"I was also contacted to create a mehndi design for Julia Roberts for the movie Eat Pray Love, in which they planned to include a wedding sequence in India. Eventually that scene did not end up in the picture, but it was an interesting process to go through, getting the measurements for her hand and working on a stencil that would be converted to a temporary tattoo."
Chandrasekhar has also had unusual requests, including a cityscape across a man's chest and shoulders, and a "green man" with leaves and plants surrounding a face on a client's back. Both of these tattoos were created for men who were attending the 'Burning Man' counter-culture festival, held each summer in the Nevada desert.
How did her husband feel about her decorating another man's chest? "Well, the guy's girlfriend was there, too, and I did henna on her arms and legs," she chuckles. "My husband doesn't mind. He sees it as an art form, and the individual appointments are done in my home studio."
Both Chandrasekhar and Patangay extend their artistic talents to the more traditional canvas-paintings. Recently, Patangay held an exhibition in New York of her hennography, which incorporates painting and photography of henna artistry done on a model or on canvas. She also designs henna-inspired jewellery, ceramics and wedding cakes.
Running any business has its challenges, but with talent, patience and practice, a good henna artist can do well in the growing US market. "The best clients come through references, and you can only develop those through consistently good work," notes Patangay. "These days my clients range from walk-ins who find me on the Net, to high-end stores, celebrities and event planners." Supplies for henna are readily available now in the country and are not expensive. The greatest challenge for Patangay is time. "Often I have clients looking for our services on the same date and time, but fortunately I now have four other amazing artists helping to meet the growing demand."
Chandrasekhar is part of a network in the Bay Area of henna artists that refer each other in case of illness, or when an artist needs help for a large event. "Henna artistry is fulfilling but the work is challenging. Even if you are really good at henna, you have to have a good business sense as well, marketing yourself, knowing what your clients want and all the while being a professional."
In May 2009, Kimberly Allcock opened Henna Blessings studio in Reno, Nevada. She fell in love with henna art while a graduate student in Edmonton, Canada, where she enjoyed her first henna tattoo at a multicultural festival. "I loved everything about it," she says. "The design, the process, the feeling of being adorned." When she moved to Reno, she renewed her interest and connected with an online community of henna artists in the US and around the world. Through this group she learned about the best and safest plant-based ingredients, mixing the paste, and making the designs.
Allcock, 37, has a booth that she brings to local events, and she also works at birthday and graduation parties, company picnics, baby showers and weddings, although no full Indian bridal mehndi yet. Living near the location of the Burning Man festival, she does many unusual henna designs, including phoenix wings covering a man's back, fishnet gloves for a woman, and a dragon crawling up a man's back with the head coming over his shoulder. Many of her clients are new to henna, and some have unrealistic expectations about the amount of time required to create an extensive design, or don't realise the importance of taking care of the design afterward. But, overall, she enjoys the creative nature of the work and the sense of celebration that she feels henna adornment brings.
