The Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

1  Artist and curator Jagdish Swaminathan was instrumental in the promotion and ‘discovery’ of many indigenous and rural art forms in association with his museum Bharat Bhavan in Madhya Pradesh, which included a ‘tribal’ wing. Government agencies also encouraged artists to develop a strong industry of decorative and domestic items for sale to enable poor communities to support themselves. 2 Sonabai’s village was in one of the 16 districts of Madhya Pradesh that became part of the state of Chhattisgarh, which was formed in November 2000. 3  Caroline Turner, Beyond the Future: The Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 1999 , p.189, and Patrick Flores in Two Decades of the Asia Pacific Triennial , CACSA Contemporary Visual Art + Culture Broadsheet 41.2, 2012, p.238. 4  Jyotindra Jain, Other Masters: Five Contemporary Folk and Tribal Artists of India , The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum, New Delhi, India, 1998. 5  The seminal 1989 exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Pompidou in Paris was curated by Jean-Hubert Martin. It presented contemporary art and folk artists in one event, drawing equivalences between different practices. 6  Jivya Soma Mashe was invited to participate in the exhibition and to paint a mural, but when he was unable to travel Jangarh Singh Shyam completed what has since become an iconic mural in his stead. A painting by Mashe was illustrated in the catalogue and because of its visual strength he has become inextricably linked with the exhibition. 7  The Ramayana is a sanskrit epic story first written in verse by the poet Valmiki over two and half thousand years ago. It is a central text of Hinduism, and has since been retold in many different forms and languages. Its characters include Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Ravana. 8  There are several different styles of pats, some of which are represented in the exhibition. For example, Yama pats depict the punishments of hell, while Santhal pats are concerned with the origins of the universe. Jada pats mediate between the mundane and the sacred, or the living and the dead. There are a number of scrolls addressing Santal myths of origin in APT8, as it has become a common theme for Chitrakar artists to address, although they do not belong to this indigenous community. 9  The Kaavad shrines have been a strong influence on artist GulamMohammed Sheikh, who has created a number of contemporary versions. 10 Minhazz Majumdar notes that the treatment of these artists is still very uneven in contemporary galleries. 11  Haegue Yang, Interview with Yasmil Raymond, www.heikejung.de/Texts_2011_ Kaleidoscope_MaterialAgony.pdf, viewed 15 July 2015. 12  Tangka painting is the best-known example of the artistic heritage of the Himalayan region. These artworks consist of a central section which is either paint on canvas or appliqued or embroidered cloth, framed by a silk mounting and stretched between wooden rods. They were hung above altars in temples and are based on complex iconographic conventions with a high level of spiritual significance. 198—199 AWORLD UNFOLDS