An exhibition of ‘The World of Rock Art’ mounted by the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sanghrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal, in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi, at Avritti Bhawan was formally inaugurated by Kapil Tiwari, former Director, Adivasi lok Kala Parishad, Bhopal, in the presence of Bl Malla (Project Director, Adi Drishya Department, IGNCA, New Delhi) and Prof. Sarit K Chaudhuri (Director, Manav Sangrahalaya).
After inaugurating the exhibition, Dr Kapil Tiwari shared his experiences of working with Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar, the ‘Pitamah’ of Indian Rock Art School and Discovering the Bhimbetka rock caves.
Tiwari said, “The paintings in rock shelters give information about the mankind before they started as society.
When there were no houses in the life of mankind, staying in rock shelters saw the dream of beauty.
In the rock art paintings around the world, colours were never of importance but the design was the important element. The key elements of design were dot, line and then colours.
The first imaginations of mankind were documented were from a society of animal-birds not of human, here human had a relation of life and fear with the society.
The mankind back then wanted to document the first impression he was getting about life in line, and not colours.
Colours for him were just a medium to convey his impressions whereas in the base of his consciousness there was shape. India which was not annihilated by history can be traced back through rock art”.
After the inaugural ceremony a student’s Workshop on rock art titled ‘Impressions’ was organised where history students from Govt. Gitanjali College, Govt. MlB College, Govt Arts and Commerce College and students of Parvarish – The museum School participated.
later in the afternoon a special lecture on ‘Prehistoric Rock Paintings and its significance in Art and Culture’ was delivered by Dr. Rahman Ali (Member, Indian Council of Historical Research).
The lecture was chaired by Bl Malla (Project Director, Adi Drishya Department, IGNCA, New Delhi) and Prof Sarit K Chaudhuri (Director, Manav Sangrahalaya) gave the welcome speech.