Radha Tekam

Ramesh is a traditional Gond artist, from near Bhopal. Gonds are the largest group of indigenous people in India, Dravidian in origin, and they stretch across Central India. They have a belief that viewing a good image begets good luck and so they decorate their mud walls and floors with traditional tattoos and motifs. Everything has a sprit, and so is sacred, and their art reflects the intimate connection between them and nature. It is only in the last couple of decades that they have been encouraged to take their art onto paper and canvas, and so they use modern paints to create carefully drawn lines that convey a sense of movement to still images. Dots and dashes are added for more detail and greater movement, strikingly similar to the Aboriginals of Australia, and bright colours are their hallmark. The Tree of Life is their single greatest emblem. Sort