Tree Matters

Description

The Bhil people of Central India are amongst the country's oldest indigenous communities. To them, the natural world is not 'a thing apart', but exists in a seamless relationship to their home and the everyday. Gangu Bai, Bhil artist, explores this relationship through her mem- ories and paintings of food, work, festivals, illness, medicine...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 all living beings, big and small and wise and wonderful.

Gangu Bai belongs to an indigenous community called Bhil, whose members live in villages across western and central India. Her rich repertoire of stories is steeped in the community's lore. The award-winning artist has been painting for over two decades, and her work has been exhibited both in India as well as abroad. Gangu works with the National Museum of Mankind in Bhopal. 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. One of her latest books, "Do!, " was honored with the prestigious BolognaRagazzi New Horizons award. A writer, translator, social historian and activist, V. Geetha is a freelance editor and a leading intellectual from Tamil Nadu, India. She has been active in the Indian women's movement since 1988, organizing workshops and conferences. Geetha has written widely, both in Tamil and English, on gender, popular culture, caste, and politics.

"Unusually illustrated, the paintings in this book bring us a universe of brightly coloured dots, lines and shapes that encompasses all living beings, big and small and wise and wonderful. It's a wonderful illustrative style that is full of life and colour; the people fairly dance off the pages. It would make a wonderful basis for an art project for the classroom." - Parents In Touch UK. "Her short and simple stories on food, childbirth and weddings gives readers a glimpse into tribal life. What makes this short read even more interesting are Bai's colourful illustrations painted in vibrant hues of orange, green, yellow and red." - Times of India.