Hit in Japan, Dahanu's Warli artists test Mumbai waters

January mornings in Dahanursquos Ganjad village can be bitingly cold Even the warmth of the winter sun mostly hidden in the blanket of fog escapes you This is the time of the day when the village usually empties out The sounds of hurrying feet and clinking cycles are everywhere as locals make their way to the closest bus stop or railway station to leave for Mumbai 125 km away or the nearby industrial areas of Palghar and Boisar Those who remain busy themselves in the bazaar where fresh river catch and poultry are soldThe day we arrive zilla parishad schools have opened almost 10 months after they first shuttered following the Coronavirusinduced lockdown Everyone is in a rushTushar Vayeda and Mayur right work on a cloth canvas smeared with gobbar paint which they make on their farm They prefer using white water colours over the traditional paint made from rice powderBut the Vayeda brothers from Devgaon pada of Ganjad are impervious to this frenzy At 830 am they are in their modest twostorey home which was once an ashram shaala They have returned from tending to their cows If not for our intrusion they would have already been at their studio on the first floor inking a cloth canvas smeared with gobbar cow dung paint which they are readying for an exhibition at The Gallery of Modern Art GOMA in Queensland AustraliaTushar and Mayur Vayeda are Warli artists whose ingenious exploration of their tribal roots is making waves abroad especially in Japan where the brothers have attended two artist residencies in the past The duorsquos justreleased book The Deep Tara Books is a visual autobiographical travelogue that looks back at their journey from Ganjad to Mumbai before they made it to Japanrsquos Awashima Island a place where for the first time they were ldquoclosest to the seardquo What did the Japanese see that Mumbai just about three hours away didnrsquotMayur and Tushars parents Nandkishor a retired mechanical engineer and Vanita a zilla parishad school teacher were initially reluctant about their childrenrsquos artistic pursuitsThe Warlis donrsquot paint they lsquowritersquo pictures and paintingsrdquo says 28yearold Mayur Their tribe speaks Varli which doesnrsquot have a script and so they use drawings to ldquoshare knowledge and pass down stories about their traditions rituals and culturerdquoldquoWarli art hence is not only an art but also a language A lot of peoplersquos emotions and feelings are attached to it Today Warli art has taken different directions and because it is being commercialised its importance is being dilutedrdquo he feelsThe VayedasWhile the likes of late Jivya Soma Mashe who also hailed from Dahanu popularised Warli tribal art in the late 1970s exploring how the ritualistic tradition could be used for artistic pursuits closer home the Warlis were slowly moving awayfrom their own visual languageThe Vayedas canrsquot really put a finger on when or why this happened but they are keenly aware of this changeVikas Bongya collaborated with Japanese artist Ohkojima Maki to create a ldquocave muralrdquo that narrated the story of where they came from as part of the Setouchi Triennale in 2019Somewhere around the time that Mashe had become a phenomenon villagers of the indigenous tribe in Dahanu were also simultaneously being threatened by an influx of ldquooutsidersrdquo who were usurping their land and forests mostly in the name of development Mayurrsquos late grandfather Vasudeo Rajaram Vayeda a local land rights activist and reformist saw education as a tool to empower his people ldquoAt the time Ganjad didnrsquot have a local school And so in the late 60s my grandfather started a school in this very home where we now live The ashram shaala used to house classrooms Since we didnrsquot have a pakka rasta then teachers and children even lodged hererdquo shares Mayur Vasudeo was also instrumental in familiarising people outside the village with the Warli culture He and wife Indumati now in her 90s travelled across India taking local artists with them so that they could showcase their art at exhibitions The traditional Warli hut exhibited at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya in Bhopal was built by Vasudeo and his fellow villagers Mayur saysWhile the school shut down by 1997 it left a deep impression on the brothers ldquoEducation was always a priorityrdquo recalls Tushar 33 ldquoMy father Nandkishor Vasudeo was a mechanical engineer and my mother Vanita still teaches at a zilla parishad school so we were expected to take the same pathrdquo he adds This didnrsquot mean that the family was disconnected from its roots ldquoWe are all farmers Itrsquos not a profession but a way of life Land is at the heart of everything we do So no matter what we pursued we were still expected to come back to itrdquo says MayurTheir new book The Deep Tara Books is a visual autobiographical travelogue that looks back at their journey from their humble roots in Ganjad to the chaos of Mumbai before they made it to Japanrsquos Awashima IslanAs children they were introduced to Warli art by their fatherrsquos sister Meenakshi Vayeda who they say is a skilled artist ldquoShe taught us some basic shapes During vacations we would also accompany her to local art camps Her role was crucial to our journeyrdquo says Mayur Traditionally too the brothers say its Warli women who mostly practiced the art form especially during weddings where their paintings depicted the rituals of marriage Today itrsquos the other way round ldquoMost Warli women are shy by nature and donrsquot like being in public gaze I think what happened is that as cameras started being used at weddings they became uncomfortable It definitely affected the artrdquo feels MayurWhen the brothers finished schooling they pursued their higher studies in Mumbai Tushar who was the more artistically inclined went on to do 3D animation and multimedia from Arena Academy in Andheri and Mayur pursued a Bachelorrsquos and Masterrsquos degree in Management Studies from the University of Mumbai ldquoWe would travel daily to college and mostly half the day would be spent on the train This was a completely different experience for usrdquo says Mayur ldquoOn the one hand was the wow factormdashseeing tall buildings and development all around us But on the other hand it also made us aware of how different we wererdquo he adds remembering ldquoI wasnrsquot comfortable speaking in English because I studied in a Marathimedium school So at business school I rarely got to participate in group presentations Nobody would try and communicate with me That was affecting my personal journey and relationship with the cityrdquo Tushar adds ldquoI think the more we engaged with the city the more we realised the importance of going back to our rootsrdquoIndumati Vayeda grandmother to Mayur and Tushar accompanied her late husband Vasudeo Rajaram Vayeda a local land rights activist at several exhibitionsBetween 2013 and 2016 the brothers participated in over 15 group art shows and tribal conclaves in Ladakh New Delhi Himachal Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and even Karla in Maharashtra ldquoBy this time I was confident that I wanted to become a Warli artist so I read up more about it and started learning on my ownrdquo says Tushar Mayur followed after him Initially their parents werenrsquot convinced about their choice of career ldquoI had done some drawings here and there But until then none of us in the family had taken up Warli art professionallyrdquo recalls Vanita ldquoWe had spent so much on their education so naturally as parents we were worried about their futurerdquo Nandkishor who spent most of his work life shuttling between Dahanu Palghar and Mumbai was a little softer on them ldquoMeri bhi kalpana thi ki woh kuch bane I also had a wish that they do wellrdquo Looking back he is glad that they supported them He feels it did the art which by then was only resurrected at certain celebrations a whole lot of good The inspiration for the brothersrsquo artwork was ldquohomerdquo Drawing on an analogy Mayur says ldquoWe have a chikoo farm but I donrsquot remember the last time I enjoyed the chikoos from our trees The same could be said about our art While we had stories around us we hadnrsquot explored it enough till we started paintingrdquo Growing up they spent most of their time either on the farm or in the jungles where leopards foxes snakes and peacocks roamed blithely in the wild ldquoDuring the rice harvest season the entire village would participate in the tarpa dance wersquove been part of it ourselves When we bring the dhaan grain home we have another ceremony where we pray to our ancestorsrsquo spiritsrdquo says Mayur adding that all of these elements began to seep into their drawingsSisters Srushti and Mamta Bongya who live in the neighbouring pada are currently being trained by the Vayedas at their home studioSince Warli art is also about ldquotelling storiesrdquo the brothers say they decided to recreate some of the lesserknown folk tales myths and fables on canvas As a starting point the two visited their relatives in Ganjad and began documenting oral stories which had been passed down by their families Tushar says that they would even attend rituals in the temple carefully listening to the recitations of the priest who implored and prayed to the spirits and their ldquogao devrdquo The duo found a friend and partner in Vikas Bongya a villager who lives in the neighbouring pada Bongya joined them in 2011 and has since been assisting the brothers at the studio In 2015 a group of Japanese architects visited Ganjad as part of the Noco Project spearheaded by nonprofit organisation Wall Art Project to promote sustainable housing In a workshop they built a Warli home using traditional materials like sticks red soil and cow dung and Japanese interior design The Vayeda brothers were part of the initiative too Itrsquos here that they got in touch with Japanese artists and were later invited to participate at the Wall Art Festival in Inawashiro Fukushima in 2016 Two years later in 2018 Mayur attended the Awashima Art Residency He was joined by Tushar and Bongya the following year and the trio spent the next six months on the islandSisters Srushti and Mamta BongyaDuring that time they also participated at the Setouchi Triennale a contemporary art festival held every three years on a dozen islands in the Seto Inland Sea Setonaikai that Awashima is part of Here they collaborated with Japanese artist Ohkojima Maki to create a ldquocave muralrdquo that narrated the story of where they came frommdashWarli painting is said to have its origins in the Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh To make the cave they used old newspapers plaster glue and water on timber and abandoned houses of AwashimaThe island also inspired their new book The Deep Gita Wolf publisher of Tara Books got interested in the project when the brothers showed her a large mural they had created with ldquodifferent fish in the depths of the ocean of Awashima Islandrdquo ldquoWe asked them to redraw the mural in a smaller format and combined it with the image of two fishermen one Indian and the other Japanese fishing in the waterrdquo says Wolf The fishermen says Tushar reflected the exchange of ideas Wolf took the first manuscript to Frankfurt Book Fair and through feedback realised there was something wanting The present book was developed following several extensive interviews with the brothers Itrsquos a glimpse of their journey from the traditional to something moreinnovative she sharesldquoJapanese culture is a lot like oursrdquo says Tushar Their belief in spirituality ancestor worship and nature had parallels to their own ldquoIn Warli art you will mostly see rivers or riverrelated activity in the drawings because most of our settlements are built around it This was the first time that we were residing near asea and that too for such a long time In Mumbai because of our hectic lives we never got to spend time on a beachrdquo recalls Mayur Living so close to the sea also meant becoming acquainted with its marine life ldquoUntil then we had never seen creatures like starfish octopus planktons and sea firefliesrdquo adds Tushar While reimagining Ganjad for the book they stuck to traditional shapes and designs The art takes a life of its own when they create geometrical blocks to show the trains they travelled in and the skyscrapers they witnessed while in Mumbai Their drawings of Japan are more surreal ldquoGiving the sea creatures form in Warli art was an interesting challenge because we donrsquot have those kinds of shapes in our drawings But we see Warli art as a language that is constantly in need of new grammarrdquo says MayurThe brothers almost always work together on a canvas ldquoItrsquos very difficult to plan a canvas We usually have an idea in mind and then the two of us begin workrdquo says Tushar Mayur adds ldquoWe donrsquot decide who will work on what Very often it has happened that I am working on one side of the canvas and after lunch I change positions with him and it doesnrsquot affect the rhythm Since we have had very similar life experiences it reflects in our work We play to our strengthsrdquoEveryone in the studio has specific tasks at hand Bongya who has been learning Warli art from the brothers for nearly 10 years now is responsible for making gobbar paintmdashmade by mixing cow dung in water to make a paste and straining it several timesmdashfor which the gobbar is sourced from their own farm ldquoThis is the base that we most prefer working with because unlike red soil which is most commonly used it doesnrsquot crack so easily But we have to choose the cow dung carefullyrdquo says Tushar adding ldquoIn the rainy season cow dung that you get is usually greener than usual By winter the grass turns a pale green which is why you get a greengreyish tint In summer because the leaves have dried the dung is dark brown We choose the shade based on the story we want to tellrdquoThe brothers recently got Bongyarsquos sisters Srushti 23 and Mamta 19 to work as interns with them Both of them are students of Jamshed and Shirin Guzder College of Visual Art in Dahanu ldquoEarlier we just saw these drawings as random patterns Now we understand the stories they conveyrdquosays SrushtiThe brothers hope to nurture more talent from their village They are building a new home not very far from their farm where they grow everything from rice to organic vegetables and fruits ldquoWe are planning to open a bigger studio there and encourage more children to join and learn from usrdquosays Tushar Like the circular pattern ascribed to the ancient tribal art their life they feel will only come full circle when theymdashlike their dada Vasudeomdashwill give back to societyComing up The Mumbai debutIf all goes as planned the Vayeda brothers will be exhibiting their paintings at ARTISANSrsquo in Kala Ghoda in September this year Radhi Parekh founderdirector of the gallery and store who recently was in conversation with the duo during a virtual launch of the book says ldquoAs I see more and more of their paintings Irsquove come to realise that their work is very conceptual and transcendental They have a bigger picture on their art which leads to an abstraction be it their subjects or their narration What stands out for me is how pictographic Warli art is They are constantly adding to the vocabulary and grammar of the art form and this without really abandoning its visual language I think they have benefitted a lot from seeing Warli art from a distance and the mentoring theyrsquove received from artists they have worked with in Japan The finesse of their rendering is just superb Itrsquos a beautiful coming together of concept technique skill and execution And therefore their art is worth taking note of as it developsrdquo She adds that though the Vayedas come from a place that is not too far away from Mumbai ldquotheyrsquove had their exhibitions everywhere except hererdquo ldquoIn recent years Warli art has been mired in a lot of commercialism and has almost become imitative because itrsquos a language that is so easy to learn But then you see the works of Tushar and Mayur and you know this is differentrdquo