Skin to Screen: Reimagining Baiga Tribal Tattoos into a Typeface

This film traces the significance and meaning of tattoos to the Baiga tribe in Central India, that is being practiced since ancient times—as has been archeologically proven through the discovery of similar symbols found on Palaeolithic and Chalcolithic cave walls. However, as the application and knowledge of permanent tattoos quickly start to vanish (even within the Baadi tattooist tribe) in less than a generation, The Typecraft Initiative explores the question whether value could be created through its transformation into a typeface that not only might engender literacy and pride within the community but, could also be made into a living repository of tribal knowledge. The typeface has embedded inside it tattoo motifs that are revealed if the user types certain words or phrases—that are important to the tribe. Words such as kumni or the fish-trap, used to catch freshwater fish, an essential source of protein (in ancient diets) as well as in the diet of the Baigas. Another tattoo—bakkhar or ploughshare used in agriculture once the Baigas moved from hunter-gatherers to food producers will also reveal itself if the keywords, "bakkhar" or "agriculture" are typed.