India’s own global art – The Warli Paintings has a history written on the walls, literally. This art was the way of expression for West Indian(Maharashtra and Gujarat states) Tribal women to depict their society and their tribe. It is not as intricate as the South Indian Art like Tanjore Paintings and not so geometric as the Madhubani paintings of the North but the beauty of the Warli tribal painting lies in its simplicity.

The Warli Paintings often depict:

• Tarpa Dance, a dance form where the villagers all gather in circles holding onto each other’s shoulders and moving rhythmically in a spiral from the Warli tribe.
• The Harvest where they show the women cutting grass and the men plowing with animals near their huts and forests.
• The Chowk(Village square) with pillars and the roof under which the elders of village sit down and discuss the ongoings of the village or sometimes Lagna Chowk where a marriage takes place.
• Tree of Life is a dense symmetrical tree that is drawn surrounded by several animals and human surrounding it.
• Palghat Marriage God, the painting that is an essential part of marriages in this tribe.

How are they made:

• Women of the tribe used to draw these paintings with Rice powder on mud walls since ages. The color stuck to white mostly with red and yellow being occasional exceptions.
• In current times, we can find them on paper and cloth as well. With multiple colors being used. Men and women together paint these works and take their tradition forward. Other than color and canvas, sometimes the content changes bringing in the elements of today’s villages.
• The dots and small strokes of lines throughout the Warli art give them their uniqueness. The upward facing triangle represents Male and downward represents female.

Increasingly this art has found a place in home decor in the form of paintings, wall-hangings, vases and wall stencil art in its modern form.

-ShiningPoornima.