Painting the jungle

Baiga art is bright and beautiful and looks fabulous on a wall. “It’s our traditional craft and we love doing it. But the money we earn is not enough,” rues Amar Baiga, looking lost amidst his paintings in the din of the Tribal Mela.

He and his brother, Sushil, live in a forest village on the outskirts of the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh. “We are a collective of 10 artists. Whatever we earn is divided amongst us,” says Amar. They need to find ways of earning more, he says. A new addition are attractive masks made of papier mache and wood. There are paintings of their village, animals, plants and trees. The Baigas worship nature. They wouldn’t like to paint the city landscape. It’s completely alien to them, explains Amar. The two brothers spend more than half the year working as agricultural labour.

Contact:

Amar Baiga, 7806062516; Email: bandhawgarhbaiga@gmail.com