Indu Barla
The Exhibition
The exhibition showcased the audio-visual specimen sheet for the script Gama.
Gama is a script inspired by Devanagari, Odia and Bengali so that people who understand either of these three scripts can easily adapt and understand Gama. This script is designed for two indigenous languages belonging to the Indian subcontinent. One is an endangered language called the Mundari of the Munda tribes and the other is called Sadri which is a common language in different tribes. The tribal communities in the subcontinent have inherited poverty and immiseration through the discriminatory systems that have existed for centuries.
This project wants to bring forward the language and the community to the world where it is non-existent. This specimen sheet is a blend of these elements, to reach out to more people and to spread awareness about the language and the community. The people from the community have been fighting for their rights and the preservation of their language. Gama is a metaphor which the language needs as a small step towards its preservation. The project sees itself in between the unaddressed, unpacked and unacknowledged societal norms and privileges that have led to the loss of language and history.