West Highland Animation belongs in a remote place by the side of a lake, five miles from a village called Balquhidder in Scotland.
When you gaze out of the window at the animation studio, all you will see are hills and sheep. The rest of the world lies somewhere beyond those hills.

Leslie MacKenzie has been producing animation for children from the Gaelic minority population of Scotland for nearly two decades. Support from Scottish cultural organizations makes it possible, and in time, all the traditional stories from Scottish mythology have became animated.

Leslie felt it would be helpful for minority cultures to know about each other as the world moves towards globalization. She wanted to explore the tribal stories and art forms of the subcontinent. She noticed that there were more Asians living in Scotland than Gaelic speakers, and all of a sudden the plan had a name: In “The Tallest Story Competition”, the Scots would host a competition, and tribal communities from India would be invited to tell the most fantastic story. Their traditional art styles would be adapted for animation.

Five tribal art forms would be selected: Warli stick figure paintings are done in white, upon a mud background, a style that would be good for cel animation.
Gond painting uses an technique of creating textures by pattern, and it would be suitable for cutout animation, while the brass sculptures of Bastar could be animated using computer generated 3D; The Patua style and the Saora styles would also work as hand drawn or as cutouts.

It was decided that a small team would make a research trip to find out more about the tribals whose art styles they were proposing to adapt for animation.
On 9 February Leslie Mackenzie flew to India with Dr. Michael Yorke, anthropologist, documentary filmmaker and tribal consultant on the project.

Mike brought his video equipment, intending to film the trip for a possible documentary that would be of interest to Doordarshan. He also brought a camera for taking photographs of tribal art to use as references for the animation. Leslie carried a second video camera, which could be connected to her laptop in order to capture single frames and give demonstrations of how the animation process happens.

Tara is from England, but was born in India and lives in Delhi, where she struggles to find work in 3D animation. “The Tallest Story Competition” was important to her because of her connection with both cultures, and she could see the potential for an Indo-Scottish co production. She knew of a company called Angles Audio Visual Studio in New Delhi and the director, Nitin Donde, wanted to be involved. For several months they had been trying to raise the shortfall in the budget for the production from Indian sources, but no one was willing to support a cultural animation project in India that seemed to have little commercial potential.
Tara would be in charge of the accounts for the research trip, and Nitin would act as translator and coordinator. The plan had been to include a few animation students from the National Institute of Design, but time and funds were short.

On 15 February the team left Delhi on the Rajdhani Express to Mumbai. From there they would go to the Warli tribal area, near Dahanu in Maharastra.

Dahanu is about two hours drive from Mumbai. We almost stumble upon the Warli Magical Mountain, a single pointed peak in the landscape. There is a Mahalaxmi temple near the top, and behind the usual display of marble Hindu deities, there is a cave, and a deity with tribal origins.

Although Nitin is from Maharastra, none of us have been to this district before, and we are happy to discover it. The terrain is gentle, and the air is warm; Life is relaxed beneath the palm trees that blow in the sea breeze, and tourism has not reached the area yet. The beaches are long and empty but for the fishing villages. Accommodation can be found at the Pearl Line Guest House on the sea front; It is a reasonably priced and unpretentious. Away from the sea, the tribal villages are a gift to the watercolour artist. Mud huts, red earth textures, colours that glow in the golden hour: Mike is running around with his camera trying to capture it all.

The next destination on the tribal animation research trip is Raipur, in the tribal state of Chattisgarh. As soon as we have settled into the Hotel Satkar, near the train station, we head off to an exhibition and demonstration of tribal art in the grounds of the Museum. Tribal artists from various parts of India have been invited to show their work, and the exhibition is clearly an important link in our research. We see characters modelled in wax, the first stage of the lost wax brass casting of Bastar; we also meet an accomplished lady artist from the Warli tradition, and several Gond artists. Raj Kumar is a young man who paints in the Gond style, and he invites us to stay with him when we reach Patangarh.

We have heard about a collector of tribal art, Mr. Niranjan Mahawar, who also runs the Chattisgarh Art Foundation. A group of lady artists are sitting on the floor, preparing artwork for an exhibition Niranjan has organised at the Rotary Club.

Niranjan is passionate about tribal art. He tells us that visiting tribal villages is how he gets refreshed from city life.

The climate is hot, and Raipur is a very busy city, dusty and dry. The further we go from Raipur the more pleasant the countryside becomes, but when we arrive in Kondagaon, we are disappointed. I had expected to find a pretty village, but instead we find Kondagaon to be a non-descript roadside town like so many in India.

Kondagaon is famous for its brass sculptures, but it is clear that Kondagaon is not a tourist destination. The choice of hotels is very limited, and we find two rooms at a roadside lodge with a view of the petrol station. Still entertaining visions of attractive tribal villages, we are quite determined to move out of this place at the first opportunity.

Mr. Jaidev Baghel is well known in the area, having received the Master Craftsman award in his art style. A big sign indicates that we have arrived at his workshop.
Jaidev is a charismatic man. He keeps his certificates and awards framed above his door, with photographs of himself in the company of VIPs such as Indira Gandhi. He proudly tells us that he has been invited to exhibit his work in many places, in India and abroad. Not only has he been to Australia, Japan and London, but also to Glasgow and the Isle of Skye, in Scotland!
His village, Bhelva Pada, has been absorbed into Kondagaon. About 250 families live in that village, and all of them are engaged in lost wax casting; Jaidev has trained many of them. He invested in building an Art Centre, intended to accommodate tribal artists wishing to develop their art. As the funds ran short, the Art Centre fell into neglect, but he offered to provide us with a hut on the grounds if we found it adequate. The huts were indeed neglected, but it would suit our simple requirements, and we engaged the caretaker- a gentle tribal fellow - to cook our meals.

At each hut we receive a warm welcome. A string cot is brought out, and Leslie and I oblige by sitting on it. We are offered tea, though it is without milk, and the whole village gathers around in excitement to observe us.

We are disappointed to find that the artists do not keep a supply of finished work, and instead of making deities for the tribals, they have adapted to the market and are now making door handles and coat hangers in the Bastar style.
Returning to Kondagaon through the fields and forest, we come across a haat, which is a local tribal market. Although most of the tribals are very poor, they seem to be contented with their simple lifestyle, because they are not exposed to the materialistic world. They do not have the opportunity to leave their environment, and many villages are still without electricity and television. They are lucky too, because the wine that they enjoy so much flows naturally from palm trees and it is easy to distil alcohol from the fruit of the Mahua tree.

Verrier Elwin was an Englishman; the son of a bishop, he came to India about a hundred years ago, on missionary business. He stayed in India for the rest of his life, where he associated with Mahatma Gandhi and the movement for Independence. In danger of expulsion, tribal welfare was an alternative to politics. He married a tribal girl and settled in Patangarh for twenty-seven years, where he wrote many ethnographic books about the tribals and collected their stories.

Our road finally brings us to Patangarh, and the way we found it was quite by chance.

A desire to reach a peaceful place for the notoriously rowdy festival of Holi brought us to Amarkantak, where we hoped to find little lamps floating on the Narmada. But it was dry season, so there was no river to bathe in.
Having no detailed map of the area, we were navigating intuitively. It was hot, and the road was poorly maintained. In the sleepy afternoon we were jolted out of our reverie by a figurative picture created on the side of the hill out of stone. Above it the word “Patangarh” had been written in Hindi script. We decided to investigate. On enquiring at a farm beside the road, we were assured that right up there on the hill was Patangarh. Could it be the same Patangarh, we wondered?

A rough track brought our vehicle to the crest of the ridge, and all of a sudden we were in the middle of the most perfect tribal village imaginable, consisting entirely of mud huts. The whole village came out to meet us, and once again Nitin takes out his list of artists, and starts reeling off the names given in Bhopal and Raipur. We were given a tour of the village and taken to Raj Kumar’s house. From the front it looked like a small mud hut, but behind the door was a courtyard, the heart of family life in the village.
We were promptly absorbed into the extended tribal family. As there were no hotels, guesthouses, restaurants or any type of cement buildings in the village, we would have to stay with the family. The entire family immediately moved into the kitchen, and their bedroom was given to us. Fortunately we were all adaptable and adventurous; For Leslie, this environment was very far from her studio in Scotland, and we all thought that she managed very well. There was no toilet in the village, and no privacy from the family; meals in the village consisted of rice and pulse, twice daily.

Raj Kumar holds a Gond painting group in his house. After Holi, a few art students turn up and we encourage them to start painting. Raj Kumar usually draws an outline, which the students then fill in with block colour. Once this is dry, elaborate patterning is painted on top, giving the designs their distinctive, almost three-dimensional quality. The patterning process is very time consuming and precise.
This Gond style of painting would not look out of place in a modern art gallery. It is hard to imagine how these psychedelic images are inspired in community that has had no exposure to the development of modern art.

The team conducts an animation workshop with the Gond painting group. The characters that they have been painting are cut out; body parts are separated, and 2d puppets are made by fixing the parts together with blue tack. Several short scenarios are devised to use the puppets and the students are shown how to animate by moving the puppets in small increments, captured frame by frame with the video camera. They are very happy to discover how their characters are seen to be moving when played back in real time, and several of them pick up the technique quite well.
Tara finds a quiet spot and paints watercolour scenes of the village.

In the afternoon, a Gond dancing troupe is organised and performs for us under the big tree in the village, with the Gond sacred mountain, Lingo in the distance. Nitin records the dancing with the video camera, and the twenty dancers each receive a fee. The whole village enjoys the event and everyone is very happy to have their culture appreciated and supported by us in this manner.

I can recommend travelling in India for a project. It gives a purpose and a direction, taking one from the mainstream tourist trail, into the homes and hearts of the people you meet, for a more enriching experience.

Our journey takes us from Patangarh to Mandla, along a track through dense forest: From Mandla to Berighat, where the Narmada flows between spectacular cliffs of white marble. The night train from Jabalpur brings us back to Delhi, where we discover that we have all developed a fondness for tribal India, and an appreciation of tribal art.

Soon the first three films of the series will go into production. The Warli film will be made by Angles Audio Visual Studio, with the help of tribal artists and further workshops in Dahanu. Meanwhile Tara will be busy building 3D models of Bastar sculptures in the computer and animating them for her story about elephants with wings. Leslie has returned to Scotland, where she will assemble a team to animate the Gond painted characters. It remains to be seen whether any tribals will be able to go and help her.