For a long time, indigenous knowledge — stories, skills, and rituals — were handed down from one generation to the next through community practices. People learned these by doing, watching, and listening, but as the world shifted toward modern tools and fast-paced systems, many of these practices began to fall through the cracks and disappear. As the world has embraced the digital age, traditional oral knowledge has rapidly faded into the margins.
Homegrown initiative, Loksutr, is working to change that. This endeavour supports indigenous communities whose knowledge systems are still rooted in oral traditions. Instead of letting these disappear quietly, Loksutr helps preserve intangible cultural heritage, translating them into something that can exist today through economic value.
The founders Achyut Siddu and Apoorva Mishra are architects who have focused their work on the indigenous communities of Madhya Pradesh, specifically the Pardhan Gond, Baiga, and Bhil tribes. Loksutr collaborates closely with these knowledge keepers to translate songs, myths, lore, riddles, rituals, and everyday wisdom into thoughtfully designed merchandise. From textile-based pieces echoing forest folklore, to objects that embody ritual significance and ancestral memory, these contemporary collectibles carry the soul of traditional craft and the sensibilities of modern design.
"Our job is to listen, translate, visualize, and share. Thereby ensuring an ongoing continuum by bringing indigenous knowledge to the forefront of modern cultural discourse.”Achyut & Apoorva
Some of the collectibles currently available on their website are picture books like 'Into the Gondverse', a book that features 26 original Pardhaan Gond artworks illustrated by Sachin Vyam, each paired with a verse that draws on traditional wisdom and the community’s deep relationship with the natural world by Achyut Siddu. There are also textiles like Chanderdi cotton-silk stoles with original hand-painted Bhil art.
Loksutr’s model is rooted in participation and ownership. They facilitate training, design support, and access to markets, helping communities generate income while retaining control over their narratives. They also explore new ways of reaching people through e-commerce platforms, social media, and virtual exhibitions, so that the work can exist beyond the usual craft circuits.
"In the past, oral mediums of knowledge transfer (folktales, mythologies, songs, chants, proverbs and prayers) were performative and often public, whereas visual forms (wall paintings, murals, tattooing/body art, weaving/embroidery, pottery and everyday objects) were intimate and private; today, in the modern world this has reversed. Thus, by giving form to the oral, we don’t aim to preserve what is dying, but celebrate what is living."Achyut & Apoorva
As a recent solo exhibition at the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi, Loksutr presented 'Visualizing Oral Traditions', reframing the way indigenous memory and storytelling are engaged within contemporary art spaces. With support from The Raza Foundation, the exhibition translated the oral myths of the Pardhaan Gonds of Madhya Pradesh into vivid visual works by artists Kailash Pradhan, Ajay Marko, Achyut Siddu, and Apoorva Mishra. The pieces, drawn from the words of storytellers like Gangaram Uikey and Narayandeen Tekam, brought forward unseen layers of shared memory and knowledge that had lived, until now, only in spoken form.
Loksutr works to connect heritage with livelihood. And most importantly, it treats cultural knowledge as a resource, not as a relic. As the entire art landscape increasingly leans into posthumanism, speculative futures, and digital abstraction, what Loksutr offers is a way to bring the old world into the conversation, making sure that indigenous cultures are active participants in co-creating our future.
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