Hill Korwa

Hill Korwa is the name of a tribe living in Chhattisgarh in the district of Jashpur. Hill Korwa is also the author of Indian tribal paintings, an aboriginal and vernacular art.

They draw their inspiration from old traditions and myths. Surrealism combines with dreams and intertwined with different myths. Hill Korwa's art is synergetic with the creation of Michaux and Cy Twombly

Their drawings are characterized by their singular history. In order to study the diverse tribal communities of Madya Pradesh, Swaminathan sent emissaries, ethnologists, painters and poets for the first time in 1983 (they did several expeditions). In places where the members of other tribes drew figurative shapes mid human mid animal, the Korwa transcribe on paper calligraphic rhythms, an unknown alphabet, sometimes highlighted by features or accompanied by bows and arrows. The Korwa speak a dialect that can not be written. The Hill Korwa belong to Indian tribal minorities. The Indians call these minorities the "adivasis" which literally means the first habitants.

"When they write, I think that they take their pencil to make a bow. They do not write, in fact: they shoot. They draw signs that are arrows" describes Archana in the book by Frank André Jamme published in 1996 by the Galerie du Jour. "Or it would be a sort of trance. Instead of shouting, singing, gesticulating and dancing, like most shamans do, our Korwa, simply write." declared Fank André Jamme in one of his approaches to mysterious and unfathomable Korwa.

The Korwa's first exhbition was organized in Bhopal in 1985 by Swaminathan. They also published a book entitled "Magical Script". Korwa drawings were exposed by Frank Andre Jamme at the Galerie du Jour, in Paris 1996 and at the Drawing Center in New York in 2001.