Gondwana

 

Gond Ceremonial Group, 11x14, ink on paper, 2020

A fun byproduct of illustrating these various peoples from all different places of the world is that I'm learning all sorts of trivia about these peoples. The Gond, mainly of Madhya Pradesh in India, were believed to have once ruled Gondwana. Most people know Gondwana as a supercontinent that existed millions of years ago, but there was also a Gondwana in India. The supercontinent, from the Jurassic epoch, a time long before humans existed, was actually named after the Indian Gondwana. Another interesting piece of trivia is how marriages are arranged among the Gond. If a woman becomes a widow she would marry the closest bachelor from the husband related side. The practice is observed to this day. The Gond are pretty well assimilated into the modern Indian economy so it may happen that a young urban professional is married to his aunt who is 40 years his senior. The song in the top 100 is only identified as Gond Song on The Columbia World Library of Folk& Primitive Music, Vol. 12: India it is found on, was recorded in 1952, a time perhaps, when they were much less assimilated into modern life, when India was still a British colony. The sound of the song sure is very far removed from western as well as Indian popular music of the 1950s.

I had fun drawing a group, instead of usual individual. I could explore rhythmic mark making. I'm thinking already about next year's concept even though this year's isn't even half way finished yet. The exhibition of the Top 100 2021 is already scheduled to take place in Dublin, Ohio during the summer of 2022 even though the work for it has not started yet. The works on 14x11 paper that I'm working on right now will exhibited during the spring of next year in my own The Top Archive and Studio space.