“During our biggest festival ‘Sorhai’ there were decoration on the walls with flower designs, bird and animal figures. I saw my mother and sister drawing red and blue lines on the walls by climbing on the bamboo ladder. [C]enturies-old traditional knowledge and art of building low-cost-no-cost mud-houses and the related skills and crafts, like wall paintings die out.” – Boro Baski in “Is ‘brick house’ the only sign of development?” (translated from an article in Bengali Anandabazar Patrika, 21 July 2019)
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=29829
Rites of Passage | Read the full article with illustrations here >> In general, women have a strong connection with the idea of a “vital cycle” not only as life givers, care-takers of children and the home; and their own monthly menstrual cycles. Some women, especially those from the tattoo community within the Gond tribe have a strong … Read more
Performing Identities brings together essays by scholars, artists and activists engaged in understanding and conserving rapidly disappearing local knowledge forms of indigenous communities across continents. It depicts the imaginative transactions evident in the interface of identity and cultural transformation, raising the issue of cultural rights of these otherwise marginalized communities. About the Authors G. N. Devy … Read more
ANTHONY KURIAKOSE narrates how each Naga shawl is a thing of beauty, mystery, history and eternal appeal. And how each shawl wraps in its folds, a unique narrative. In the textile history of India, the warrior shawls of Nagaland have a special place and like their counterpart, the Scottish kilt, these too need to be … Read more
At a time when most art forms of the Scheduled Tribes in the country have faded into oblivion, the Kerala Institute for Research, Training and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Tribes (KIRTADS) in Kozhikode is on a mission to revive and reacquaint them to the new generation of the respective tribes. ‘Kol attai, Thotti Attai, Sododimi…’ … Read more
The performance video covers Vayali Folklore Group’s journey for a folk art dance performance. The colour, energy and skill of the young people is on full display. About Vayali Motto: “Culture nourishes itself from nature.Without nature, culture cannot exist;without culture, a society cannot.” Vayali, a group of young people from the cultural capital of Kerala, … Read more