Bhil Tribes (Central India)
by Bhuri Bai
watercolour on canvas
Bhuri Bai grew up in the Jhabua district on the Madhya Pradesh-Gujarat border. J Swaminathan identified her as a potential artist nearly three decades ago, when she was a 20-year-old daily wage labourer. She picks up clues from the arts of embroidery as well as ritual narratives; her images shuttle between the intimate and the cosmic. This is especially evident in paintings where she depicts stags whose antlers grow into forests, their bodies distinctively patterned after desert dunes or river wavelets. She returns, often, to variations on the Tree of Life motif, playfully annotating its mythic presence with owls that stand on stilt-legs, timid snakes, and high-spirited elephants. Bhuri Bai demonstrates a lively and witty eye for observed detail, veining her observations with allegorical or parabolic intent.
Painting Size (cms): 74(H) x 54(W)
Painting Size (inches): 29(H) x 21.5(W)
Framed Size (cms): 79(H) x 59(W)
Framed Size (inches): 31(H) x 23(W)
