Seema Bhalla: Folk Art, for long having been rejected as
Primitive Art, is an expression of complex multilevel
understanding, not necessarily with any
reasoning. It is an inheritance that predates the
nomadic society. Though rendered in simplistic
manner, the concerns of the practitioners of this
form of art were more complicated than what
meets the eye. Sociologists and anthropologists are
still trying to ascertain the reason for similarity
in images seen in the caves of pre-historic times,
spread across Europe and Asia. These images were
not decorative in their intent but had mystical
meaning that was interconnected with the concerns
of life and its mysteries. Though unaware of each
other’s existence, living societies the world over had
expressed striking similarities and thought process
– that of trying to remain alive and decode the
requisites of existence. How else can one explain
the almost identical representations of these images
found in the caves that remained uninhabited and
were used for ceremonial purposes?
The images of pre-historic times have remained
alive till date particularly in the domain of religion
and urban life. The not so pretty terracotta female
Aboriginal Rock Art, Anbangbang Rock Shelter, Kakadu National Park, Australia
5th graders studied aboriginal art of Australia and created
these dot art lizards using earth tone colors and
sculpture of Harappan and Western civilizations is till
date part of religious ceremony in North India and is made
each time for a temporary period, later to be immersed in
water. The image symbolizes fertility, Mother goddess, and
is depicted in different ways in folk art. The pre-historic
statuette of Venus of Willendorf, 4.3 inches in size and
other similar images from different settlements world
over, is the precursor of a form of art that is associated
with myth, symbols, rituals, nature and death. Aboriginal
art from Australia, having its roots in pre-historic times,
is an imagery that is deeply seeped in spiritual and
ceremonial beliefs. “Dot Painting”, gaining popularity with
the connoisseurs of art, was essentially part of Aboriginal
religious secret ceremony and had a sacredness about it.
Each ancient society, however geographically distant from
each other, has had its own vocabulary of expression that
got labeled as Folk Art.