Gond in the Contemporary World

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By Anushka Roy Bardhan

9 min read

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    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Gond painting is a living Indigenous art tradition rooted in the communities of central India. Its visual language draws from nature, mythology, community memory and everyday experience. Traditionally created on walls and floors, Gond painting has gradually found its way onto paper and canvas, into galleries and museums, and now into contemporary homes and collections.

    The Golden and Emerald Stags in Gond by Manoj Tekam

    This movement has brought contemporary Gond art to audiences far beyond the communities where the tradition developed. Yet its journey into contemporary spaces does not have to mean a departure from cultural identity. For many Gond artists, evolution is part of keeping an artistic tradition alive.

    From Traditional Walls to Contemporary Canvases

    The history of traditional Gond art is closely connected to community life. Gond communities traditionally decorated domestic spaces with paintings associated with festivals, rituals and important occasions. Nature, animals, trees, mythology and community stories became recurring subjects within the visual tradition. Research on Gond patterns also documents traditions such as Digna, a geometric form used on walls and floors, alongside paintings depicting animals, plants and trees.

    The movement towards portable surfaces changed the possibilities of the art form. Paper and canvas allowed artists to take their work beyond their immediate communities and enter new artistic and commercial spaces.

    Delightful Crane: Gond Painting by Venkat Shyam

    Jangarh Singh Shyam played an important role in this transformation. His work brought together the myths, rituals, customs and symbols of his Pardhan community with materials and techniques associated with painting and printmaking. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection includes his Untitled (stylized trees), created around 1992, demonstrating how his distinctive patterned visual language developed on canvas.

    His influence extended to a generation of artists who developed their own approaches. Bhajju Shyam, who began by helping to fill colours in Jangarh's works, later developed an independent practice and exhibited internationally.

    Contemporary artists have continued this process of experimentation. Venkat Raman Singh Shyam, who trained under Jangarh, was encouraged to develop an individual style rather than copy his mentor. His paintings have explored subjects including political events, travel and experiences from his own life, using the visual vocabulary of Gond painting.

    This evolution can also be seen in artists represented by MeMeraki. Kailash Pradhan's Gond works include animals and birds alongside subjects such as aeroplanes, bringing elements of the contemporary world into a visual language deeply connected to nature.

    Gond Art in the Contemporary Art World

    The presence of contemporary Gond painting in museums, galleries and exhibitions has encouraged a broader understanding of the artists behind the tradition. Gond artists are increasingly being approached as individual practitioners with their own subjects, techniques and artistic identities.

    This distinction matters because the term "tribal art" can sometimes make an art practice appear fixed in the past. Research points out that Indigenous artists change their practices like other artists, responding to their experiences and the contemporary art world. It also examines how market expectations can influence what audiences come to understand as Indigenous art.

    Story of Gond King Heerakhan Kshatri Gond painting by Venkat Shyam

    Recent exhibitions demonstrate this continuing evolution. The 2026 exhibition Gond Pradhans of Patangarh, organised by the Raza Foundation and the India International Centre in New Delhi, brought together works by Gond artists from Patangarh. The exhibition showed how stories of nature, community and the environment continue to find new forms on canvas.

    Contemporary Gond art in India therefore exists between inheritance and individual expression. An artist may retain the intricate patterning associated with the tradition while choosing subjects that speak to their own time.

    MeMeraki's collection offers examples of this range. Sandeep Dhurve's Jellyfish uses traditional Gond techniques to depict marine life through a contemporary composition and colour palette. Manoj Tekam's work continues to explore forests and wildlife, while artists such as Saroj Venkat Shyam develop their own approaches to familiar Gond subjects.

    Jellyfish Drift in Gond by Sandeep Dhurve

    This is why modern Gond art is better understood as an evolving artistic practice rather than simply a historical category.

    When Gond Art Meets Fashion, Design & Brands

    The detailed visual language of Gond painting has also found possibilities beyond the canvas. Its animals, trees, repeated patterns and nature-based imagery can translate into textiles, interiors, illustrations and design.

    Such collaborations can introduce Gond artists to new audiences and create additional sources of income. They can also demonstrate how Indigenous artistic languages can participate in contemporary creative industries while retaining their cultural specificity.

    Tribal Gond art by Sukhiram Maravi

    The responsibility lies in how these collaborations are created. Using a Gond motif as a decorative pattern is very different from working with a Gond artist. Meaningful collaborations should recognise the artist, provide fair compensation and give artists a role in decisions around their work and cultural representation.

    For Gond artists, contemporary visibility becomes more valuable when it creates genuine artistic and economic opportunities rather than reducing their visual language to a design trend.

    Platforms such as MeMeraki contribute to this contemporary relationship in another way. Its Gond collection connects original works by artists including Kailash Pradhan, Choti Tekam, Sandeep Dhurve, Gareeba Singh Tekam and Saroj Venkat Shyam with collectors looking for art for contemporary spaces.

    The Role of NGOs & Cultural Organisations

    Museums, cultural organisations, researchers and independent initiatives play an important role in creating visibility for Indigenous artists. Their work can include documentation, exhibitions, publications, education and opportunities for artists to engage with wider audiences.

    Documentation is particularly valuable because an artwork carries more than its visual appearance. Understanding the artist, community, technique and story behind a painting provides context that can otherwise disappear when an artwork enters a new market.

    Branched Shelter: Tree of life in Gond by Manoj Tekam

    Artists such as Bhajju Shyam are one example of how digital cultural archives can preserve information about individual practitioners and their artistic journeys.

    The role of the market is equally important. If young artists can earn a sustainable income from their practice, continuing an inherited artistic tradition can become a viable professional path.

    This creates a larger shift in how preservation is understood. The objective is not simply to preserve paintings, motifs or techniques. It is to support the communities and artists who continue to give those traditions meaning.

    Preserving Indigenous Identity in a Globalised World

    The idea of preservation often suggests keeping something unchanged. Living traditions tell a more complicated story.

    Gond art and culture have always developed through the experiences of the communities that practise them. Contemporary artists bring their own memories, surroundings and observations into their work. Their paintings can include forests and deities alongside technology, political events, unfamiliar animals and modern experiences.

    Venkat Raman Singh Shyam offers a clear example. His work has addressed events such as the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and the volcanic ash disruption that affected air travel in Europe. He represented these contemporary subjects through the vocabulary of Gond painting.

    Jal aur Prithvi Jeevan in Gond by Braj Bhooshan Dhurwey

    This shows why an art tradition does not need to remain visually identical to remain culturally connected.

    At the same time, evolution needs to happen with agency. The MAP Academy's research highlights how Indigenous artists can become constrained by the expectations of the art market, particularly when audiences begin to associate a community with a fixed visual style.

    For Gond artists, cultural continuity therefore depends on having the freedom to decide what they paint, how they paint it and which stories they want to tell.

    The Next Generation of Gond Artists

    The future of Gond art heritage is already being shaped by artists who are extending the tradition through their own practices.

    The next generation is inheriting techniques, motifs and stories while working in a world of digital platforms, online galleries and international audiences. This creates opportunities to reach collectors directly and to present Gond art outside the geographical spaces where it originated.

    The Drummer in Gond by Venkat Shyam

    MeMeraki's current Gond collection reflects this breadth. It includes artists working with subjects ranging from forests and wildlife to marine life, mythology and contemporary compositions. Sandeep Dhurve's Jellyfish, for example, takes a subject outside the familiar forest imagery often associated with Gond painting and renders it through detailed Gond patterning.

    Other works continue to explore the relationship between humans, animals and forests. Kailash Pradhan's paintings draw on his training within his community and his distinctive Cherchera pattern, while Manoj Tekam's works explore trees and wildlife through intricate compositions.

    Digital access can therefore become part of the tradition's future. It allows artists to find audiences beyond their immediate geography while giving collectors an opportunity to encounter individual artists and their stories.

    MeMeraki: Creating Space for Indigenous Art to Thrive

    Creating space for Indigenous art today requires more than putting traditional paintings in front of contemporary audiences. It requires creating a relationship between the artist, the artwork and the person who eventually collects it.

    This is where MeMeraki's contribution becomes relevant. Its Gond collection brings together original works by multiple artists and presents them alongside information about their practices and the stories behind individual artworks.

    That context matters. A painting becomes more meaningful when a collector can understand who created it, what materials were used, what subjects inspired it and how it connects to a wider Gond art tradition.

    MeMeraki also creates a direct route for contemporary collectors to encounter original works by Gond artists. Its artworks are handmade and can reach audiences beyond India, allowing the artists' practices to participate in a wider contemporary art market.

    Wild Wonder: Pride of Lions in Gond by Gareeba Tekam

    The larger contribution is therefore visibility combined with access. When artists can be discovered, their work can be collected and their stories can be documented alongside their paintings, preservation becomes connected to livelihood and continued artistic practice.

    For Indigenous art to thrive, the goal is not to keep it confined to the past. It is to create enough space for artists to carry their traditions forward on their own terms.

    Conclusion

    Contemporary Indian folk art does not exist outside the contemporary world. Gond painting demonstrates how an inherited visual language can continue to develop while remaining connected to community, memory, nature and cultural identity.

    The future of Gond art and culture depends on more than preserving old motifs or techniques. It depends on giving artists opportunities to experiment, exhibit, earn and tell their own stories.

    Galleries, cultural organisations, brands, collectors and platforms all have a role to play. Their responsibility is to create visibility without taking away agency, and access without reducing a living tradition to decoration.

    The strongest form of preservation may therefore be allowing Gond artists to keep creating. When they can respond to the world around them through their own visual language, Gond storytelling remains alive, changing with each generation while carrying its cultural memory forward.

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