ROOTS AND REINVENTION: CONVERSATIONS ABOUT INDIGENOUS AND MODERN ART

For much of the twentieth century, the story of folk and tribal art in Indian modernism was told as one of influence. The modern artist looked, borrowed and transformed, and the tradition stayed a source rather than a partner. However, alongside the borrowing there has always been exchange - encounters in workshops, villages, publishing houses and residencies where artists from different worlds created and expressed together.

This panel asks what it takes for that exchange to be real collaboration, and what it produces. It looks at the conditions that make it work: credit and authorship, fair terms, shared decision-making and mutual learning. It also asks who gains from the partnership and who decides what the finished work looks like. The conversation moves from historical precedents to current practice, where tradition-bearers such as Warli, Gond and Bhil artists increasingly set the terms themselves, working with curators, publishers, institutions and fellow artists across India and abroad.