She lets the trees speak

Neha Kirpal

Like her father, she too tells stories of nature; stories about myth and reality, as experienced in the jungle. Hailing from a village in Dindori district of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Japani Shyam comes from a family of Gond artists. Daughter of the famed artist Jangarh Singh Shyam, who has been credited for creating a new school of art in India called the Jangarh Kalam School, Japani has seen art around her ever since she was born.

Her art work is characteristic of tribal stories. Stories within the paintings speak of gods, goddesses, trees, animals and rituals in the jungles. Japani, thus named because she was born while her father was away to Japan for the first time, recalls her father giving her a blank paper and asking her to draw anything she liked on it. And she did. In 1999, when she was barely 11, some of this amateur artwork of hers was sent for a child award. The chance entry led to her receiving the Kamala Devi Award.

She followed her father’s style —figures, colours and designs —Japani realised she needed to have a style of her own. This got her exploring and experimenting with new ideas. Finally, she came up with the unique white-on-black style of painting which she continues to do till this day. Japani also wanted to know how people respond to her work. This brought her to Delhi where she showed her paintings to some art galleries. Several showed interest and many bought her work. Today, she is a well known name in Gond art. Her exhibitions have been held in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. She recently brought her works to the Capital through an exhibition, Songs of Nature, in collaboration with Tribal Art Forms and UN Environment as part of the World Environment Day week.

Needless to say, it was hard for a tribal girl like her to bring a traditional art form from a small village in Madhya Pradesh to a national and global pedestal. However, the struggle was much harder for her father who was a pioneer in the field and died young while on an assignment in Japan. “Taking this tribal art of ours this far has taken a lot of thought, effort and many sleepless nights,” says Japani. She says there are many more tribal Gond artists like her in villages, who though very good, but are not recognised. “Communication is a problem and very often they are exploited by middlemen,” she says.

She feels tribal art is a legacy that needs to be passed on to the next generation and believes that Gond art is nowhere close to fading. “My generation of Gond artists, while retaining the traditional elements, is experimenting too. Rather than stagnating or diminishing, the art is evolving in terms of new materials and design innovations. Artists are responding to how people are looking at their works in present times.” This, she feels, will take them ahead.