On a day when India’s first President from the tribal community Droupadi Murmu completed one year in office, the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday got a unique gallery dedicated to tribal arts, culture and heroes.
The gallery, which is around 2,200 square feet, has been developed by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, an autonomous institution under the Union Culture Ministry.
Ms. Murmu took over as the 15th President of the country last July and is the first from the tribal community. She hails from a small village, Uparbeda in Odisha, and worked as a teacher before joining politics.
The new gallery ‘Janjatiya Darpan’ (tribal mirror) was inaugurated by Ms. Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The gallery showcases different themes like unsung tribal freedom fighters, traditional natural resource management practices like Halma, tribal art like Dokra, musical instruments and various scripts like Gunjala Gondi.
It also houses agricultural and household implements, bamboo baskets, textiles, paintings such as Warli, Gondi and Mud Art, scrolls, masks and jewellery, metal work, weapons, and contemporary photographs depicting tattoos.
“The aim of this gallery is to provide a glimpse of rich art, culture and the contributions of tribal communities in building this nation,” a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
Sources in the IGNCA said that the gallery was created within a short span of 10 days.
The President also inaugurated ‘Navachara’ – an Artificial Intelligence-enabled gallery developed by Rashtrapati Bhavan in collaboration with Intel India and ‘Sutra-kala Darpan – a Textile Collection which showcases a collection of antique textiles that document the illustrious legacy of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
