Anthology on Visage: Tribal Tattoos in India  

The chief aim of the portfolio is to profile the facial tribal art which is on rapid decline at present in India. Of course, the sole objective was to best present the spotless emotions emanating from visages of women juxtaposed with tattoos on body. Twelve years ago I stumbled upon members of a primitive tribe, Kutia Khonda in one of the tribal fairs of Odisha province. What arrested my gaze, in particular was their conversational etiquette expressed more through eyes and faces. My desire to visit their habitat locations was dashed to ground by local friends. For, any such venture would not only be daring and risky, but dangerous too. This warning, in fact doubled my curiosity. My continuous efforts for two years finally bore fruit. My fascination had a thematic purpose: to present versatility of tribal tradition and practices to the outside world for wider appreciation by all connoisseurs of art. 

Tribal life is often abuzz with explicit cultural traditions. One such tribal practice is tattooing on body. Simply put, these are nothing but traditions on skin. The new-age girls of Kutia Khonda tribe have, of course, discarded it out of choice. I could cover faces of those women whose faces are already tattooed. To capture the original and fast-disappearing tattooing traditions, the current portfolio is a submission for the benefit of pictorial experience of posterity. The photographs are about the glee and gloom, facets of face and variety of emotions – all reflected in a mood of frivolous earnestness. These tattoos, sometimes pictorial, at times line drawings and some other times plain lines can be best described as anthology of traditions portrayed on body with fervour. The quintessential essence is about tradition of rich tribal art. And, it is an eerie intersection between the past and the present.