PROGRAMMES

Sacred Signs “every line a prayer, every pattern a memory”

“Sacred Signs” brings together the profound visual languages of the Baiga and Gond communities—two of India’s most revered Adivasi traditions, whose art is deeply intertwined with cosmology, memory, and the spirit of the forest. In both Baiga and Gond worldviews, the act of mark-making is not merely decorative—it is devotional. For the Baiga, sacred signs emerge through godna (ritual tattooing), geometric floor drawings, and symbolic gestures that honour ancestral knowledge and connection to the earth. Gond painting, known for its intricate lines, vibrant patterns, and living narratives, maps the relationship between human, animal, and spirit worlds through a mythic visual vocabulary.

Across these traditions, signs are sacred because they hold stories. They are not abstract motifs, but forms that channel belief, history, and place. Whether etched onto skin, painted on walls, or transformed into contemporary canvases, these symbols remain living testimonies of identity and resilience. This exhibition invites the viewer to encounter these signs not as distant tribal ornamentations, but as active, intelligent, and vital systems of seeing and being. In a world that often seeks speed and simplification, “Sacred Signs” offers an encounter with nuance, memory, and the forested depths of Indian visual heritage.

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