This Article First Appeared In Scroll On Apr 4, 2023
Throughout history, the art and aesthetics of indigenous communities have been either marginalised or appropriated by dominant groups. In post-independence India, Adivasi culture continues to be framed in ethnographic terms by the state, as an “authentic” manifestation of an unchanging sensibility. At the same time, the increase in representation of indigenous art is concomitant with its commodification by the private sector and global art market. This broad backdrop of the fraught politics of identity and capital should be the context to any conversation with Adivasi artists. In recent decades, the groundbreaking work of individual artists such as the late Jangarh Singh Shyam has created opportunities for Adivasi artists to claim space as contemporary practitioners. The visual artistic tradition pioneered by Jangarh Singh Shyam – christened Jangarh kalam by the poet Udayan Vajpeyi – has many heirs in his Pardhan Gond community who continue to advance the style.