How Gond Art Is Slipping Into Silence As Mud Walls Disappear
The distinctive wall paintings of the Gond tribal community once a common sight on mud houses across forest villages of Madhya Pradesh are steadily vanishing as traditional homes give way to cement structures and changing lifestyles.
For generations, Gond families painted their walls with animals, trees, gods, and patterns inspired by forests and folklore. These paintings were not created for galleries or markets, but as part of everyday life renewed during festivals, marriages, and harvest seasons.
Gond wall art was temporary by design
Unlike canvas paintings, Gond wall art was temporary by design. Natural pigments made from charcoal, soil, leaves, and cow dung were applied on freshly plastered mud walls. Each motif had meaning—tigers symbolised protection, trees represented ancestors, and repetitive dots reflected harmony with nature.
“These paintings were our way of talking to the spirits of the forest,” said an elderly Gond woman from Mandla district. “Every wall had a story.”
Younger generations prefer printed posters or plain painted walls
The decline of Gond wall art is closely tied to changes in housing and livelihood. Mud homes are being replaced by concrete houses under government housing schemes.Younger generations prefer printed posters or plain painted walls.Traditional knowledge is no longer passed informally within families.Migration to towns reduces community-based art practices
In many villages, newly constructed cement houses offer no surface suitable for traditional wall painting, effectively ending the practice.
Canvas version is very different from its original form
Ironically , Gond art has gained international recognition in recent decades appearing in exhibitions and private collections. However, experts point out that the popular canvas version is very different from its original form.
“Gallery Gond art survives,” said a culture researcher based in Bhopal. “But the wall art the original community expression is disappearing.”
Some NGOs and museums have documented wall designs through photographs and sketches. Yet there are few efforts aimed at keeping the tradition alive within villages themselves.
Reviving wall art would require re-imagining it for modern homes
Artists say reviving wall art would require re-imagining it for modern homes something that has not yet been attempted on a large scale.
Cultural historians warn that the disappearance of Gond wall art represents more than the loss of decoration. It marks the erosion of oral history, belief systems, and a visual language tied deeply to forests and land.
As concrete replaces mud and silence replaces symbols, one of Madhya Pradesh’s oldest living art traditions risks fading into memory preserved in books, but absent from the walls where it once belonged.
By ANASUYA ROY