Description Warli (Maharashtra) by Ramesh Hengadi Rice pigments on cloth prepared with cow-dung A decorative painting illustrates a popular story from Warli mythology, with incredible symmetry and colour. It depicts the Warli Gods accepting seed from the ants. The ants are shown emerging from their anthill and traversing the field while carrying the seeds. Subsequently, the Gods distribute the seeds across the Earth, thereby rendering the land fertile for agriculture. Other insects and reptiles in the field also help support the villagers in their own way. 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): 130(H) x 120(W) Size (inches): 51(H) x 47(W)
