“Art was never something I discovered. It was always there.
I come from the Gond community, and some of my earliest memories are of being surrounded by paintings, colours, stories, and handmade art. In our homes, creating paintings and images of deities by hand was part of everyday life. I grew up watching art take shape on walls and spent hours experimenting with materials myself. Long before I knew what design or filmmaking meant, I was fascinated by the joy of creating.
That curiosity stayed with me at The Scindia School in Gwalior. Although I studied Commerce, I also took Fine Arts, became the art editor for school magazines and newsletters, and found constant encouragement from my teachers. My parents had imagined a more conventional career, perhaps in medicine, but they saw how deeply I was drawn to art, design, films, and storytelling. They trusted me to follow that path.
I went on to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication at the College of Art. Until then, I was focused mainly on painting, but college introduced me to graphic design, photography, and filmmaking. Those years were filled with exhibitions, experimentation, and learning, helping me grow from an artist into a visual storyteller.
While still studying, I worked as an Art Direction Intern on Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare. For someone obsessed with films, stepping onto a professional set felt surreal. Soon after, I began working with a modelling agency in Delhi, handling fashion shoots, campaigns, and film projects while balancing my studies.
After graduation, I continued working in fashion and started a master’s degree at NIFT. Around the same time, I cleared the CEED exam, which opened doors to several IITs, and I chose IIT Hyderabad.
At IIT Hyderabad, I studied Visual Communication, exploring filmmaking, photography, animation, design research, typography, and emerging technologies such as AI, AR, and VR. More importantly, my professors encouraged me to reconnect with my roots.
That journey led to my thesis film, The Legacy From Beyond. As someone from the Gond community, I wanted to understand the lives behind the art. Gond paintings are admired around the world, yet many artists struggle to earn a livelihood through their work alone and often depend on farming or labour jobs when paintings do not sell.
I wanted to tell that story not as an outsider, but as someone returning to his own community. The documentary captured the beauty of Gond art as well as the resilience, dignity, and struggles of the people who keep the tradition alive. The film was shortlisted for the Student Academy Awards and received several recognitions, including the Best Student Debut Director Award at the Rajasthan International Film Festival.
My work with Gond culture continued through a typeface inspired by Gond art, which received the Paris Design Award and recognition from IIT Bombay’s TypoDay and the Taiwan International Student Design Competition.
I was also selected among India’s top writers for the Creative Minds of Tomorrow programme at IFFI Goa, while my doodle art earned national recognition as a National Finalist at Red Bull Doodle Art India.
Today, I work as a filmmaker and Assistant Director in the Telugu film industry. Every project introduces me to new people, perspectives, and stories. Those experiences continue to shape me as much as any classroom ever did.
When I look back, I think about the young boy surrounded by Gond art and stories, the support of my parents and teachers, the scholarships that helped fund my education, and the opportunities that shaped my journey.
There are still many stories waiting to be told. Through films, writing, design, and visual storytelling, I want to keep preserving cultures, documenting lives, and helping people understand one another a little better.
The farther I travelled for my studies and work, the more I found myself returning to where it all began. And I feel like I’m only getting started.”
— Harsh Raj Gond