ART SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS: INDIAN FOLK ART FOR ANTHROPOCENE

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to foreground how art and especially folk art has the potential to transform the way we view our relationship with the environment. It takes into consideration the Anthropocene, the epoch where the planet is bearing the load of disastrous human activities and looks at how Indian Folk Art might offer a solution. Folk Art, the paper argues has always adhered to a critical posthumanist ideology and aesthetic. The portrayal of nature in these artforms can offer us potent responses to Anthropocene. The first section of the paper talks about the connection between Folk Art and nature within a critical posthumanist framework. Folk art, not just through its themes but also through the elements it uses, is intricately intertwined with nature, and responds to the Anthropocene. Subsequent sections take into consideration different folk and tribal artforms and talk in depth about their connection with nature and prevalent themes. The paper also analyses some tribal and folk paintings and the folk artworks presented in India Art Fair in 2018. The scope of this paper is limited to four major folk artforms (Gond, Pattachitra, Madhubani, Warli) but the arguments made in this paper pertain to all folk arts in general.