Delhi publisher S. Anand was immediately taken by the 1.5-metre rosewood sculpture he saw on a trip to a central Indian community last year. A three-dimensional extension of the local storytelling tradition, it was the work of village artist Sukhnandi Vyam and his uncle Subhash.
They had carved the nude figure for a visiting American some time ago, but couldn't ship it to their client after losing his business card. Deciding it was his gain, Anand asked to see more of Vyam's work.
'He went to back of his hut, where the toilet was, and pulled out more sculptures. He'd put them there because there was no space. They were so incredible, I was flabbergasted,' says Anand, who runs publishing company Navayana.
A member of the Gond tribal group, Vyam was keen to sell his totemic figure, but the publisher felt the 27-year-old sculptor's talent would be best served in an exhibition and instead persuaded him to create more pieces that could be seen by a bigger audience.
Hosted earlier this year by the Wieden + Kennedy gallery in collaboration with Navayana, Vyam's show - intriguingly titled, 'Dog Father, Fox Mother, Their Daughter & Other Stories' - was the first solo exhibition by an Indian tribal artist.
Until recently, folk paintings in the Madhubani and Kalamkari styles and art by the Gond tribes, who occupy central India, were typically displayed only at craft fairs and government-sponsored exhibitions in musty provincial centres. Such works are often dismissed domestically as 'primitive craft', while attracting growing appreciation abroad.