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 of food, work, festivals, illness, medicine, and much more. Her tales center around trees, and so each of her memories has a tree as its focus. Illustrated in vivid and cheerful colors, the paintings in this book foreground a universe of brightly colored dots, and lines and shapes that encompass and hold all living creatures, including human beings.