From the Heart of Darkness

 The life of Gondwana tribals are beautifully documented in the photography series.
From the Heart of Darkness

HYDERABAD: The recently held photography exhibition ‘Humans of Gondwana’ at Lamakaan showcased wide spectrum of the lives of tribal communities of Gondwana from Chattisgarh who have spent their lives in forests enveloped in their own mystery. The snapshots and story telling in words have been captured by Harshit Charles (in the pic to left), Ramesh Kasa, and Shatali Shedmake.

The regions for Gond communities are Vidarbha, Maharashtra, northern Telangana, parts Orissa and Uttar Pradesh who make their homes away from the hubbub of urban racket. And no it’s not in the villages that they live, they choose deep pockets of forests as their habitation. Says Harshit, “It was initially really difficult for us to click their photographs. They just wouldn’t appear and would hide in deep bushes seeing people. We befriended them, talked to them and then slowly they agreed to be photographed.” 

They have more than 500 stories to tell the world. Harshit along with other team members has been doing community work through CGNET, the community radio for tribals in 400 villages of the Gond inhabited epicentres. For better communication to bridge the gap between the urban world and the tribal world the programmes are telecast in three languages viz English, Hindi and Gondi. 

Other than clicking the photographs the team is also trying to preserve and document the food items relished by the community. Apparently, the Gonds grow and eat 58 types of millets and “1,300 varieties of rice”. “It’s not just their food, culture and lifestyle that we want to document, we also want to invite the urban folks to come and experience the tribal community. That’s how in Chhatisgarh we have created ‘Jhopdi’ a sort of economical place to stay where we want people to come live and see closely life of the community,” say Shatali and Harshit. 

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