Traditional and contemporary tribal art at seminal show

An exhibition of tribal art by the Raza Foundation underscores the need to change attitudes towards art made by tribal artists

Prakrut, an exhibition of works by young tribal artists currently on view in New Delhi, is a seminal show that would be remembered as an important milestone in the ongoing quest to mainstream tribal art.

India, which boasts rich tribal culture—and the largest tribal population in the world outside of Africa—tribal art continues to be known as "the other" or "outsider" art.

Organised by The Raza Foundation, the exhibition is curated by senior artist Akhilesh and is on view at Sangeet Shyamala in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, till July 24. It features works by 19 contemporary tribal artists largely from central India and the North-East.

For Ashok Vajpeyi, the managing and life trustee of The Raza Foundation, the exhibition loops back to the time when tribal art was first pulled out of the shadows and placed on the same pedestal as urban contemporary art by the stalwart of Indian art, Jagdish Swaminathan.

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As director of the Bharat Bhavan arts complex in Bhopal, Swaminathan scouted for talent in the interiors of Madhya Pradesh and "discovered" Gond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam (1962-2001) in the tribal-dominated Mandla district. Shyam would become the poster boy of tribal art in India.

"It started as a radical initiative at Bharat Bhavan by Swaminathan to bring attention to the "other" art, the folk and tribal art; to bust the notion that identified contemporary art in terms of urban art," said Vajpeyi, author, poet, and the driving force behind the setting up of Bharat Bhavan in the 1980s.

"Contemporary art cannot and should not be defined thus as that would mean keeping a lot of art of India outside the purview of modern art."

As Prakrut bears out, the world of tribal art is no longer a water-tight compartment. On the one hand are distinctly tribal works, such as those by Japani Shyam, who learnt Gond art from her parents, Jangarh Singh and Nankusia Shyam, and on the other are contemporary works that do not speak a tribal lexicon. An example is the works by Punyo Chobin, from the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, who holds an MFA from Viswa Bharati University, Santiniketan, and teaches fine arts at the Rajiv Gandhi University at Doimukh, near Itanagar.

Sayed Haider Raza (1922-2016), one of the most important modern Indian artists, who established the foundation in 2001, was born in the predominantly tribal Mandla district. Despite living in Paris for 60 years, he did not break ties with India and liberally endowed the foundation to provide a platform for the arts, music, dance and literature. To honour the great master in his birth centenary year, the foundation is organising an exclusive Gond tribal art show from 19-23 July in Mandla, informs Sanjiv Choube, member secretary of the foundation.

Tribal Indian art may still have to elbow its way into the urban art scene, but a steady push may yet repeat the feat achieved by Jangarh Singh Shyam's work, Landscape with Spider which sold for $31,250 (approx. Rs 25 lakh) at a Sotheby's auction in New York in 2010.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist, editor and arts consultant. She blogs at www.archanakhareghose.com)