In Gond art, nature is left, right and centre. Tribal youth are taking it global

India Today

21-07-2025

The Jangarh Kalam exhibition at Triveni Kala Sangam in New Delhi, centred around Gond art, was saying a lot without using words. There was no text, but the artistic voice was loud and clear. The paintings on display elicited the same emotion; they had the same message: we need to reimagine how we think about nature.It wasn't a crowded exhibition hall. But what those frames on the walls, with their bold strokes, minute dots, and vibrant contrasts were saying, was nothing short of a quiet revolution. It was a voice -- perhaps many voices -- telling us what we had stopped hearing long ago: the voice of the forest, the trees, the birds, the soil.advertisementThis was the work of Gond artists, a tribal community that paints not just to express beauty, but to preserve memory. And it all started with a name most wouldn't find in textbooks, Jangarh Singh Shyam -- back in the 1980s.
Jangarh Singh Shyam is credited by art critic Udayan Vajpeyi as the founder of a new style of Indian painting, which he calls the 'Jangarh Kalam'. His work often features Gond deities such as Thakur Dev, Bada Deo, and Kalsahin Devi.Alongside these spiritual figures, Jangarh also painted animals -- tigers, deer, turtles, and crocodiles -- using a distinct cutout-like style that became a hallmark of his art.In the year 1989, his art was displayed in the Pompidou Centre's Magiciens de la Terre (Magicians of Earth) exhibition in Paris.He started without canvas or even brushes. He just started to paint what he saw: trees, animals, rituals, spirits of the forest. He painted to document a life so deeply interwoven with nature that you couldn't separate one from the other. Gond art doesn't decorate, it remembers.
In the heart of the forest and the flow of the river, the goddess rides not just the crocodile, but the memory of her people, painted leaf by leaf, scale by scale.
'The inspiration of one man is now helping thousands of others. The work of Jangarh Singh came as a light for the tribal community of the region, and now these youngsters are not only carrying the legacy forward but also have a means to earn a livelihood,' said RN Singh, Founder and Managing Director of Progressive Art Gallery.Each painting in the exhibition had a passionate aura that drew you closer. One canvas showed a goddess riding a crocodile under a tree full of birds and monkeys, life in full motion, life in balance. Another captured women dancing in a circle, tied together in rhythm and labour. Nothing fancy. Just stories we forgot to tell ourselves.
Women dancing in a circle, tied together in rhythm and labour.
The painting that was the most awe-inspiring was of a tree, with branches wide like arms stretched out before an embrace. Beneath it, deer grazed. Birds rested. Elephants moved.There was no human in sight, yet humanity could be felt everywhere. That tree wasn't just a tree. It was shelter for thousands out there in the wild.The artists whose work was displayed in the capital city of India, some less than 22 years of age, didn't speak much. They didn't need to. Their dots, lines, brushstrokes did all the talking.And the irony struck: those who live closest to the earth speak of it the least, but understand it the most.We often chase retreats to mountains or beaches to "disconnect," to "find peace." But what if peace isn't a destination? What if it's in these paintings that hang quietly on beige walls, away from malls and noise? Art that doesn't shout.advertisementMost of these artists, like Rahul Shyam, Ram Kumar Shyam, Sunil Shyam, and others whose work was witnessed during the exhibition, come from villages where resources are scarce but imagination overflows. They paint from memory. They paint because that's how they archive stories.For them, nature isn't a weekend getaway. It's a mother, a witness, a god, a friend.Another artwork showed a lion with a human face, trees bursting into patterns, women drawing water. Each frame felt like it was breathing.In another masterpiece, a bird nested in a tree within a goat's back. Maybe the artist was trying to say that all life shelters life.There were no labels screaming 'Masterpiece'. No artist's statement in bold.Just titles, sizes, and the names, some I'd never heard before, but now won't forget.
A striking Gond artwork blending myth and nature, an elephant-tiger hybrid surrounded by village life, trees, and birds, capturing the deep connection between tribal imagination and the living landscape.
advertisementAnd here lies the beauty of what Gond art does, it tells us that we're not above nature, we're part of it. When the earth breathes, we do. When it hurts, we bleed.For many of us, nature is something to visit. For them, it is home. These paintings, beyond being art, are letters from home.Maybe someone leaving the exhibition hall carried a certain silence in their mind.A young visitor shared her experience: 'I don't know, but this place and all these paintings hit hard. The way they've been painted is a masterclass. We may be living our lives in the city, but these artists, who put everything around them onto the canvas, are the ones truly enjoying it.'You don't need to travel to forests to hear these artists. You can stand in a white-walled room in the heart of a city and listen, if you choose to.The exhibition was held at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi from June 30 to July 10, 2025, from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.- Ends
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