Before she takes a pot of water from the river, the woman duly asks, ‘can I take a pot of water off you’? Before he climbs the tree to pluck a fruit, the man asks, ‘can I take a fruit off you’? These are a few examples of the relationship between forest dwellers, the tribes of India, and Nature. “This relationship is at the heart of tribal art,” says artist Satyapal, former Chairman of Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi. He along with businessman and patron of art Jose Dominic has set up a one-of-its-kind gallery of tribal art, Dezika in Jew Town.
Here Jidku and Midki stand lithe, in their gilded bell metal forms, their shiny stretched bodies celebrating a tale of love and longing. The long-legged, long-armed figures with slim torsos are the god and goddess of lo
Kochi / Kerala, 26/02/19. Artist Sathyapal and Jose Dominic at Desika Tribal Art Mattancherry. Photo:H.Vibhu/The Hindu.
Crafted by native inhabitants of the forest, tribal art is representative of the very first expressions of mankind, painted on rock face, cut into fired stone, decorated using natural colours, mud and dung, stylized in wood, clay, narrating stories of rituals, myths, Gods and demons, of the dead and alive. But it is art that is yet to find its place in mainstream aesthetics.
This breathtakingly beautiful collection, sourced from across
Kochi / Kerala, 26/02/19. Desika Tribal Art exhibition at Mattancherry. Photo:H.Vibhu/The Hindu.
Satyapal spent years exploring and understanding the art of the tribes, living with them and bringing their art to the outside world. Jose, through his active role in hospitality, hosted tribal artists year after year to popularise and mainstream their art. The two men journeyed together to conclusively set up Dezika.
Kochi / Kerala, 26/02/19. Desika Tribal Art exhibition at Mattancherry. Photo:H.Vibhu/The Hindu.
“Contemporary art in India is relatively new,but the art of the tribes, is thousands of years old. It came into new media in the 1970s except Madhubani, which got contemporary exposure in the 1940s. This powerful art is still on the margins. I call it art of the marginalised,” says Satyapal whose tryst with tribal lifestyle began in 1998 when he visited Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal and was attracted to the strength of this raw form of expression. Later he conducted an art camp for the inmates of a jail in Bilaspur and followed it by spending months with tribes in the forests of Bastar in 2000.
“Our aim is to introduce the strength of this art. The artists have never produced art for a market. We want to be in the space of the tribes; there’s much to be discovered there. Our attempt is to enable their art and find a proper channel of retail that will benefit the artisan,” says Jose.
Kochi / Kerala, 26/02/19. Desika Tribal Art exhibition at Mattancherry. Photo:H.Vibhu/The Hindu.
The collection is representative of several tribes, the biggest contributions being of the Gonds, who are spread across Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh. The maximum numbers of Gond painters and sculptors are from the banks of the Narmada—Amarkhanda, Dindori, Garakamatta and Pattangarh. Born storytellers, the Gonds have a daily ritual of an overnight musical storytelling session, after which artists recreate the tales on wood.
The collection has art of the Saura tribe from Orissa that resembles a style close to Warli artists from Thana district in Maharasthra, Kalamkari from AP and Godan or body tattooing art with original and contemporary versions, the sacred cloth art— Mata ni Pachedi from Ahmedabad—narrating the stories of the Goddess, drawings of the tales of deity Pithora Baba in Pithora paintings from Jhabua and Chota Udaipur, bell metal figurines or Dokra art from Bastar, from the regions of Khonda Gond and Ektal and Loha or art in iron from Umar gaon. Wooden masks made by Muria Gond artists too are on display.
Nature is the most celebrated theme in the art done on canvas, cloth, metal and wood. Another striking feature is that no two works are the same, even if done by the members of a family. “The style has to be individualistic and cannot be copied, even if it is a father and son doing a work. Their art is pure and intense. These people work like the Buddha. They hear the music of the forest and are oblivious to the outside world. Hence tribal art is honest and pure.”
Kochi / Kerala, 26/02/19. Desika Tribal Art exhibition at Mattancherry. Photo:H.Vibhu/The Hindu.
(The gallery is open daily from 11 am to 6 pm. The art works are for sale.)
