Gond Tribal Artist Bhajju Shyam's Children's Illustrations Are Breathtaking

Theories around creation have always been shrouded in mystery, and in the revelation of the ancient depictions of our universe, the fog clears to shed light on a third space that is possibly the most important to accept. There has always been that sense of magic associated with make-believe characters - like Santa Claus, who has succeeded in inducing some actual ‘good behaviour’, or the fear of ghosts, as real to many as something more tangible. Don’t you see? There has always been a trace of truth in each of these constructs, as long as we know where to find it and what to make of it.

And this is exactly what Margaret Mead meant when she made the crucial classification between ‘fact’ and ‘poetic truth.’ Putting the zing back into ancient story-telling, it makes us realise that every learning need not have a scientific backing as long as we are willing to believe. It is okay to accept that just maybe, we don’t need to understand everything completely to believe in it.

Bhajju Shyam, a famous Gond artist, celebrates this viewpoint through his breath-taking illustrations.  Teaming with symbolisms and allusions, each of his illustrations has a different story to tell as long as you are willing to lend them a ear. Hardbound and silkscreened in handmade paper with traditional Indian dye, this book happens to be a limited edition of only Rs. 5000.

The Gonds were originally settled forest-dwellers scaling across the dense jungles of Madhya Pradesh before they recently began their translocation to cities in search of jobs. Therefore now, it is the Gond art that has kept the ebb and flow of the rhythms of nature and Gond culture alive. Gond paintings typically summarise long orally communicated legends and theories into detailed illustrations. This is done using a mix of symbolisms that hold weight as the common ground for numerous different ethnicities and religions. For instance the image of a fish that is also portrayed in Christian sculpture is a Gond symbol for water. Therefore Gond art is an integration of various aspects of human life which can be derived into multiple interpretations.

The mutually beneficial oxymoron of life and death, of the masculine and feminine - art is perhaps the best way to express the magnitude of such an immense notion. Through Tara Books’ publishing of Bhajju Shyam’s work, an indigenous artist gains an international voice as well as a platform to showcase otherwise marginalised art and literature. It also helps give a voice to and bring forth certain truths that are strewn obtrusively throughout various stages of our lives that we often fail to ponder over.

Gita Wolf and her team in all their native pride have been helping local artisans uphold traditional handicraft through collaborations on various books like The Night Life of Trees and Hope Is a Girl Selling Fruit. So it is time that we too uphold our nativity by emerging from unintentional ignorance and stepping into the wider world of scope and awareness.