The Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

were traditionally made for dwellings, based on songs and stories characterised by animistic themes and intricate patterning. Venkat Raman Singh Shyam is the nephew of the renowned Gond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam (1962–2001) and he continues to experiment with and extend the Gond motifs and subjects. In 2008, after witnessing the terrorist attacks on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, he was inspired to paint a series of detailed drawings on the subject; while viewers have found that these works appear more contemporary, he asserts that they continue the same interest in the natural world as his previous works. Pushpa Kumari and Pradyumna Kumar are Madhubani or Mithila artists, an art form traditionally practised by women in the Mithila region. Kumari was taught by her grandmother Mahasundari Devi, one of the first Mithila artists to work on paper, and she addresses themes often relevant to contemporary women such as female infanticide, dowry deaths, sexuality and stories of love and union from the Ramayana. 7 Both artists use geometric borders, fine line drawing, and an elaborate symbolism. Paper and ink are now their primary media, no longer the walls of dwellings, but they paint from personal experience using the iconography and symbolism Kumari learnt from her grandmother. The Chitrakar (‘picture-makers’) community in West Bengal create long, brightly coloured scroll paintings, known as pats or patachitra, that are intimately bound up with itinerant storytelling and song. Six patua artists feature in the exhibition, with works addressing a range of subjects from contemporary history and social issues, to tales from Hindu scriptures. Themes that have become communal ones for these artists include stories of local Bengal deities, ‘the plight of the girl child’, devastating Tsunamis, the Gujarat earthquake, the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, and religious conflicts between Hindus and Muslims. They also illustrate themes from history, such as the French MADHU CHITRAKAR Naya, West Bengal, India b.1967 Tsunami 2008 Natural colour on mill-made paper with fabric backing / 304.8 x 55.9cm (approx.) / Proposed for the Queensland Art Gallery Collection 176—177 AWORLD UNFOLDS