COFFEE TABLE BOOK
One of my long awaited dreams has come true.
I love telling stories - be it through photography or filmmaking. In 2014, with a sense of adventure and a craving to explore remote tribal places in my country, I first visited Adilabad to make a documentary on one of Asia’s most ancient tribe – the Raj Gonds. My small team and I trekked to some of the most isolated places to document the cultures, ancient traditions and artistic heritage of the Gonds. And it was incredulous to see that their way of living has mostly remained unchanged in hundreds of years and untouched by the changes of the world around them.
It was pure serendipity that this was around the time of Diwali, the famous Indian festival of lights. And I stumbled upon this spectacular, centuries-old custom Gussadi. Witnessing the Gussards performing the dance of the God, for the first time, its mythic history and biting satire completely fascinated me. Their rhythmic and robust movements with the accompaniment of stirring music, was not only an exquisite sight for the eyes but also a moving experience for my soul. It was then that I decided that this story needed to be told. My journey had started then, and I had been blessed to be joined by likeminded and amazing people in making this dream of mine come true. It is a privilege to photograph and record the people, their ceremonies, their traditions and culture and the nature they live in. And six years of hard work and exhaustive research has culminated into the documentary film ‘Gussadi – Celebration of Being God’.
It was only after finishing the film that the idea of the coffee book dawned on to me. I am hoping that apart from being an aesthetic photographic document the book will be a window into the mystic world of the Gussadis. And that it preserves their legacy for future generations before urbanization, which has slowly founds its way into their culture, totally invades them.
This book and these photographs are for you, the reader, as much as they are for the people you see in them. I hope they cherish this book and feel proud about who they are and what their true identity is, so that they continue to teach their future generations and also the students of the world the wonders of their traditions and ways of living.
I’m ever so grateful we made this book, which wouldn’t have been possible without the immense support and guidance of Divya Ma’am, (Mrs. Divya Devarajan, IAS, District Collector of Adilabad).
---- Jennifer Alphonse.
