Tree Matters

The Bhil people of Central India are amongst the oldest indigenous communities in India. To them, the natural world — of trees, creatures that inhabit them, and the forest of which they are a part — is not 'out there', but rather exists in a seamless relationship to their home and the everyday. Gangubai, Bhil artist, explores this relationship through her memories and pings of food, work, festivals, illness, medicine and much else. Her tales centre round trees, and so each of her memories has a tree as its focus. Illustrated in vivid and cheerful colours, the paintings in this book foreground a universe of brightly coloured dots, lines and shapes that encompasses and holds in all living creatures, including human beings.