PUNE: In recent years, a remarkable transformation has taken place for the traditional art form of the rarely-known indigenous tribal communities of India. These tribal communities have been exporting their unique and traditional artefacts to foreign countries, empowering them and also uplifting their art. This is mostly done with the help of newly set-up Universal Tribes, a group of 22 young tribals coming from all over India, promoting and exporting the tribal artefacts.
The Universal Tribes Group was started by Rajat Raghatwan in September 2017 with the help of his friends. Now, the group has a count of over 22 youngsters from remote tribal communities of India. Their main objective is to empower the community by exporting their tribal artefacts to other states and countries.
Raghatwan said, “Right now we are connected to more than 140 tribal artists from all over India and nine NGOs are also connected with us. We also hold a tribal dance in corporate events and tribal-made corporate giftings is also one of the activities. We are also going to sign an MoU with the TATAs to get in touch with the tribal communities who are associated with the company so that we could provide these communities with more opportunities.”
“Till date, we have shipped around 500-600 tribal artefacts to Dubai, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United States of America, Japan, Malaysia and some of the European countries. The demand is more for wooden art and for Warli paintings. This has generated employment for these artists,” he added.
FROM INDIA TO ABROAD
In recent years, a drastic change has been noticed where the tribal art forms have become more colourful and more artistic than the earlier ones. Also, some of the people and communities are now individually exporting and promoting their art through social media.
Manki Vaida from Palghar is making the Warli paintings from the last 30 years and from last five years, she has been selling her paintings online. She said, “Last year I went to France and sold my Warli paintings and earned around Rs 2 lakh to 2.5 lakh.”
Manisha Netamb another tribal artist hailing from Gond village of Nagpur, said, “Gondi art, i.e. a kind of painting which is a very unique and traditional art form originated from Madhya Pradesh. Gond paintings can best be described as ‘on-line work’. Inner and outer lines are drawn which are used in such a way that it conveys a sense of movement to the still images. Dots and dashes are added to impart a greater sense of movement and increase the amount of detail into it. There is is a huge demand for this art form in the foreign market and we have been earning pretty well from it.”
Another tribal artist from Gurgaon, said, “My father used to make bamboo lanterns and other bamboo arts which used to be non-polished and simple. But now when I started making it, the demand for the same bamboo-made lanterns and other artefacts increased drastically. We have also started selling it online on e-commerce websites and to foreign countries as well.”
COLOURFUL ACTIVITIES
- The Tribal Research and Training Institute has conducted a Tribal Cultural Festival from October 25 to 29 between 10 am and 8 pm. The tribal handicraft exhibition cum sale is organised on October 26 along with traditional tribal dance competition from 5 pm to 8 pm and from October 27 to 29, there will be tribal film festival from 6 pm to 8 pm.
- The festival is being held from last 30 years and they receive approximately 100 tribal handicrafts and ten tribal dance groups.
- Kiran Kulkarni, Commissioner of Tribal Research and Training Institute, said, “The exhibition has seen a drastic change from over the years. The second generations of the exhibitors are making handicrafts which are polished and have vibrant colours which is attracting a lot of people from the country and abroad as well.”
