Warli (Maharashtra)
by Ramesh Hengadi
Rice pigments on cloth prepared with cow-dung
A decorative painting depicting a Warli Tribesman fishing after the first rainfall of the season. The first rainfall is an important event for the Warli Tribesmen. It signals new routines for the farmers. Along with the harvest, the farmers take full advantage of the change in season by using their nets in the gushing rivers to catch a variety of fish. However, as depicted, not all fish are caught, and they let the small fish survive and grow.
The Warli style is characterised by the use of two inverted, balanced triangles to represent the human body. Only two colours are used, brown (used in their clay huts) for the background and white (in the past obtained with rice powder) for the painted forms. This minimal use of colour enhances the meticulous pictography that transcribes their everyday life activities. Every painting is rhythmic, its incessant movement mirroring reality.
The Warli tribe live mainly in the Thane District, 150 km north of Bombay. They are mainly subsistence farmers who are highly independent and guided in their way of life by their own religious beliefs. Their Gods are very rarely represented because they generally manifest in human, animal, inorganic or vegetal forms. Ramesh Laxman Hengadi, born in 1976, is the son of the head of a Warli tribal clan. He learnt Warli painting by observing it during village festivals and marriages. He works as an artist alongside his wife, Rasika Hengadi, and together they have participated in numerous exhibitions and educational programs in India and abroad.
Size (cms): 124.5(H) x 91.5(W)
Size (inches): 49(H) x 36(W)
