JAIPUR: If you have ever been to the Jaipur Literature festival, you will know that it is not just about literature. It is also about live art. We met with Bhajju Shyam, who is working on an artwork around the animal kingdom.
Born in 1971 in the Gond village of Patangarh, Shyam left his studies after completing his tenth standard due to financial constraints, and travelled to Bhopal when he was just 16.
“I came to Bhopal searching for work and worked as a watchman for three months and later worked along with electricians, laying down pipes. I met with my guru Jangarh Singh Shyam and started working as his apprentice. Getting work and food to eat was more than sufficient for me at that time, so I started working with guru-ji,” said Shyam, who today is a well-known Gond artist with his works exhibited all over the world.
Talking about the canvas he has been working on since the start of the festival, the artist said, “We don’t usually work with spray painting and that is something new in Gond art, giving it a contemporary look. The detailing is being done with a brush. We opted for this because we have just five days to finish this painting and there is another canvas we are yet to work on.”
The canvas that Shyam is working on reflects what is going around the festival: multiple stages and speakers simultaneously speaking which the crowd is attentively listening to. “The fox at the center telling is telling a story, while the rest of the animals in the forest have come to listen to him, the way the crowd in the festival has come to listen to the speakers,” explained the artist, who received the Ojas Art Award at this very festival in 2016.
Shyam feels proud to be able to talk about his culture through his work and believes that it is the only way to make people aware of their existence. “While many use songs and storytelling as their medium, I use paintings to talk about our traditions and culture. And though it is important to know about cultures of other people, it is quintessential to talk about your own,especially when they are indigenous,” he says.
In 2018, Shyam was also conferred with the Padma Shri, making him the first Gond artist to receive the award. Apart from painting, the artist has featured in 20 books that have supposedly together sold 100,000 copies.