Art is an expression when typical means of conversation fall short. In olden days, art was a means to demonstrate daily life and preserve traditional knowledge, myths, and folk tales. In modern usage, ‘fine arts’ is an acquired skill where aesthetic considerations are of paramount significance. Today’s artists combine all the above concepts into ‘applied art’ to bring forth their intrinsic artistic capabilities, honed with the use of appropriate medium and content, to render the art more appealing and marketable.
One such artist I know is Nidhi Gupta, a soft spoken and reserved lady who is probably more occupied observing the environment, internalizing its beauty, chaos, mismatches, exaggerations, subtilities than verbalizing her thoughts in an unending array. Although she is a trained artist, a postgraduate in Fine Arts, she had to work arduously to keep her passion and calling kindled through last 25 years. As a wife of a senior Naval Officer, her base changed frequently. Yet, she managed a critical balance of nurturing a family, mostly as a single parent during her husband’s absence while sailing, and her Art. She worked late nights, often till 3 or 4 in the mornings to meet her deadlines.
Recently, Nidhi was working on Warli art. To me, Warli art always appeared abstract and exceptionally geometric, and that was not what I appreciated in art. As she was ecstatic about her exhibitions, I reluctantly asked her to share some art pieces with me. What appeared in front of me was a collection of erratic emotions, some bit of loneliness, forlornness, and desperation for survival. There were thin underfed figures walking steadfastly in one direction.
As if Nidhi understood my dilemma, she explained that Warli art is a ‘community art’ or ‘folk art’ form from interiors of Maharashtra, traditionally created by the tribal women, depicting their social life. This art is the collection of pictures of human beings and animals, along with scenes from daily life, created in a loose rhythmic pattern. Hence, as the ‘community art’ focuses on community’s belief systems, their goals, problems, and experiences, my sentiments with regards to similarities between the mass exodus of migrant workers (during the Coronavirus lockdown) and the Warli art were not unfounded.
In a world of excesses, unpretentiousness is a rarity and this art form keeps that belief alive. The tribals from the west coast of Northern Maharashtra are economically backward yet maintain their indigenous customs and traditions. According to Yashodhara Dalmia, an authority on tribal arts and anthropology, “the Warlis are frugal in their habits and speech”. The art depicts scenes of human figures engaging in activities like hunting, dancing, sowing, and harvesting. The figures in Warli Art do appear skinny, undernourished, demonstrating limited means, yet marching ahead towards a direction, with purpose.
Nidhi, who was brought up in Nagpur city of Maharashtra reacted to my calling the figures skinny, and retorted with inert sense of humour that in fact, the figures were popularly known as ‘stick figures’. It was interesting to observe that there were no straight lines used in Warli paintings. They were usually crooked lines, dots, circles, and triangles. Human and animal bodies were represented by two triangles joined at the tip. Their precarious equilibrium symbolised the balance of the universe. During these unpredictable times faced by humans across the world, the mention of balance imbedded in the lives of people with limited means, gave a hope and insight that probably it is time we came down to basics.
As my understanding became better, so did my appreciation for Warli Art! I had heard people wonder why the fuss about an art form that restricts itself to two colours. Here, I was truly clear that it is this classic simplicity that makes this art stand out from the clutter. The houses in the tribal areas were barely lit by skylight, often had a lone, small window. The cow dung was smeared on the walls and that was the original canvas! The Warlis used rice-based paint to create the artworks because the sparkling white of the rice-paint gleamed in the under-lit house. The pale sunrays that entered the house delivered an ethereal feel to the abode.
Traditionally, this painting is done on a red ochre background with white paint and these are the only two colours used. But, today, a variety of colours are being used to replicate these artistic motifs on fabrics, home décor or other artistic forms. The tribe has been using the basic materials for painting like rice paste with water and gum for the white paint and a bamboo stick that has been chewed on, as a brush. Today, the artists use routine water, acrylic and oil paints, with a ‘not chewed on’ regular art brush.
By the time I finished reading and discussing about Warli art with Nidhi, I was convinced that Warli art is not just an art! It is a representation of environment consciousness and finding joys in simple things of life. The Warli people lead modest lives, worshipped nature and found all their means of sustenance from the nature. They did not believe in disrupting the nature or taking more than they required. Theirs’s a definite message of harmony between nature and man
Name of the Collection – “Incense collectibles and more…”
Nidhi can be contacted at:
nidhigupta1402 @ gmail.com
Monica (Managing Editor) is the quintessential researcher - she thrives on showcasing overlooked aspects that form the foundation blocks of people, places and issues. She is a social scientist by profession with masters in Economics and loves to travel.