Modern Tribal: Producing Indigeneity in Our Times
Image Credit: George Blower
Dr Rashmi Varma from the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies worked with Tara Douglas (Adivasi Arts Trust), Mukul and Ghetto Tigers and artists Narayan Deen, Rajendra Shyam and Venkat Raman Singh Shyam to bring indigenous Indian art to a new audience.
The beautiful Gond artworks made me think of animals that might be lost to us, and that have such a huge role in global culturesA visitor comment
Through visual and performance art they explored how the figure of the tribal has been produced over time - from the British colonial archive to the neoliberal present in India - as the mirror image of civilization and progress.
During the week of Warwick Tate Exchange, indigenous Indian artists produced paintings and gave performances on the Bana, a traditional Pardhan instrument. Tara Douglas’ film, The Tales of the Tribes, was on show for visitors to watch, and a workshop demonstrated to participants how an oral folktale can be translated into a short animated clip.
Visitors were invited to a reading of the work of anthropologist Verrier Elwin by actor Nikesh Patel, as well as a seminar on the tensions between indigenous art and global capitalism. In a performance workshop, participants devised a play based on an account of the struggles of indigenous people to maintain their cultural identity in the modern world.
Listen to the recording of 'Indigenous Art and Global Capitalism':
Modern Tribal presented visitors with questions about the tensions between multiple truths and histories, and the struggle for justice which ensues between the powerful and disempowered.