Creation

From a fish waiting to be born, to the beginning of art and the necessity of death...lore from the Gond tribal community in central India abounds with stories of origins, transformations and ends. Celebrated Gond artist Bhajju Shyam now gathers together these tales for the first time. By linking the cosmic with the everyday, he expresses the essence of each myth in ten sequential images. This extraordinary visual narrative of cyclical time takes us from the germinal moment to the turnaround point, where death once again transits into renewal.

Gita Wolf was born in Calcutta but educated in different cities in India, including New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. She received her Masters degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Erlangen/Nuerenberg, Germany. In 1994, she started Tara Books, as an independent publishing house based in India. Beginning with The Very Hungry Lion in 1995, she has written over 20 books for children and adults. Several have won major international awards and been translated into multiple languages. Her book, Do! was honoured with the prestigious BolognaRagazzi New Horizons award. Another title, Gobble You Up went on to win the Aesop award. Arun Wolf is a young film-maker from Chennai, India and has been associated with Tara for several years - he assists with visual documentation and is involved in producing book-related shorts and themed documentaries for Tara Books. The various artists featured in this book include several award-winners and men and women of extraordinary talent, including Bhajju Shyam, Durga Bai, Jagdish Chitara and Bhaddu Hamir. Each of these artists has exhibited in India and elsewhere, being featured in exhibitions of outsider and folk art from India.