Warli painting

History

The Warli tribe is one of the largest tribes in India, located right outside of Mumbai. Despite being so close to one of the largest, modern cities in India, tribesmen reject the notions and modern advancements of society today. The style of Warli painting was not discovered until the 1970's even though the tribal style of art is thought to date back as early as 10th century A.D. The Warli culture is centered around Mother Nature and elements of nature are often focal points depicted in Warli painting. Farming is their main way of life and the source of their food to provide for the tribe. They greatly respect nature and wildlife for the resources that it provides for life. Warli used their clay huts as the backdrop to their paintings, similar to how ancient people used caves as their canvases.

The art of Warli painting

These rudimentary wall paintings use a set of basic geometric shapes: a circle, a triangle, and a square. These shapes are symbollic of different elements of nature. The circle and the triangle come from their observation of nature. The circle is representing the sun and the moon while the triangle is derived from mountains and pointed trees. In contrast, the square appears to be a human invention, indicating a sacred enclosure or a piece of land. The central motif in each ritual painting is the square, known as the "chalk" or "Shaukat", mostly of two types known as Devchauk and Lagnachauk. Inside a Devchauk is usually Palaghata, the mother goddess, symbolizing fertility.

Male gods are unusual among the Warli and are frequently related to spirits which have taken human shape. The central motif in ritual paintings is surrounded by scenes portraying hunting, fishing and farming as well as trees and animals. Festivals and dances are also common scenes depicted in the ritual paintings. Human and animal bodies are represented by two inverse triangles joined at their tips. The upper triangle depicts the torso and the lower triangle the pelvis. Their precarious equilibrium symbolizes the balance of the universe. The representation also has the practical and amusing advantage of animating the bodies. Another main theme of Warli art is the denotation of a triangle that is larger at the top representing a "man" and a triangle which is wider at the bottom representing a "woman". Apart from ritualistic paintings, other Warli paintings covered day-to-day activities of the village people.

One of the central striking aspects of many Warli paintings is the "Tarpa Dance"—the Tarpa, a trumpet-like instrument, is played in turns by different village men. Men and women entwine their hands and move in a circle around the Tarpa player. The dancers then follow him, turning and moving as he turns, never turning their back to the Tarpa. The musician plays two different notes, which direct the head dancer to either move clockwise or counterclockwise. The Tarpa player assumes a role similar to that of a snake charmer, and the dancers become the figurative snake. The dancers take a long turn in the audience and try to encircle them for entertainment. The circle formation of the dancers is also said to resemble the circle of life.

Warli painting materials

The pared down pictorial language of Warli painting is matched by a rudimentary technique. The ritual paintings are usually done inside the huts of the village. The walls are made of a mixture of branches, earth, and cow dung that make a red ochre background for the wall paintings. The Warli only use white to create their paintings. Their white pigment is made from a mixture of rice paste and water with gum as a binder. They use a bamboo stick chewed at the end to give it the texture of a paintbrush. The wall paintings are done only for special occasions such as weddings or harvests.

In contemporary culture

The lack of regular artistic activity explains the traditional tribal sense of style for their paintings. In the 1970s, this ritual art took a radical turn when Jivya Soma Mashe and his son Balu Mashe started to paint. They painted not for ritual purposes, but because of their artistic pursuits. Jivya is known as the modern father of Warli painting. Since the 1970s, Warli painting has moved off of the walls and onto paper and canvas.

Coca-Cola India launched a campaign featuring Warli painting in order to highlight the ancient culture and represent a sense of togetherness. The campaign was called "Come Home on Deepawali" and specifically targeted the youth of today. The youth want to acknowledge and honor their traditional culture while also embracing the opportunities of the present. The campaign included advertising on traditional mass media combined with radio, internet and out-of-home media. Social media provided to be a useful platform to help Coca-cola reach their target of youth and to bring the ancient art into the 21st century.