THE painting exhibition which is currently on at the Museum Auditorium has a rustic flavour to it, that of pure Adivasi Ayurveda. Not because the two artists who have showcased their paintings hail from the tribal settlements in the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram, but they are also practitioners of a unique lifestyle, that has roots in tribal knowledge.
While Sudheesh Manikandan is from the Anappara Attumanapuram adivasi settlement, Siji Madhavan belongs to the Kani settlement at Kallar Muttamoodu. Sudheesh and Siji belong to a generation who are tribals by birth but has little knowledge of its indigenous quality.
But that was before the duo met Dr Vijayan and through him ‘Bodytree’. And learned the magic of ‘correct breathing’. Bodytree is an organisation that has its base at Kallar and works to train young people from different indigenous communities to become community health workers and envisages ideas of health education for community groups.
Dr Vijayan M.R., the founder of Bodytree, is all respect for tribal medicines but strongly advocates breathing exercises for the entire well-being of a person. Under him, a group of tribal youth are being trained to develop their skills in their own way and learn the tricks of correct breathing.
Which tells us why Sudheesh and Siji are not just artists, but preachers of healthy living. Sometimes they do it through their drawings. ‘‘When a person comes to Bodytree with some sort of pain, say backache is given treatment which is based on tribal ayurveda and we artists demonstrate the pain by giving the patient a visual idea of it,’’Sudheesh says.
In short, Bodytree and the tribal community works on a ‘give and take’ policy. Adivasi knowledge, adivasi art and adivasi ayurveda have been adapted by Bodytree to come up with an educational and health development programme that will ultimately benefit the tribals themselves.
Sudheesh and Siji are presently being trained at Bodytree on ‘Warli’ tribal art. Samples of which can be seen at the auditorium itself. Warli is a Rajastani tribal art, which shows numerous human and animal forms either working, cultivating, dancing or hunting.
‘‘We have tried to learn Warli and then do the art in our own community style,’’ Siji Kani says. There are a lot of figures that go well for tattoos, he says.
A portrait of an old woman can be seen in pencil drawing and in acrylic, done by both of them. Curiosity reigns until we are told that the woman in the picture is in fact Siji’s grandmother, Lakshmikuttiamma Kani, who is an adivasi medicine practitioner who offers treatment to patients coming with poisonous bites and stings. A true sample of Bodytree project.
‘‘There is ayurvedic treatment at Bodytree, but most importantly, we tell people to correct their postures, breathing and walking so that their health turns wonderful. These tribals were one with nature once and we hope to give it back to them,’’ Vijayan says.
Art and health have a unique blend here. The programme has been organised at Museum Auditorium by Bodytree and Kanavu Makkal Trust, Wayanad. Drop in to see the paintings and to know how keeping your mouth closed and breathing less can gift you a long life. There will be a two-hour workshop and demonstration of breath retaining exercises from 4 p.m to 6 p.m. The painting exhibition and workshop will conclude on Wednesday.