Tribal Art in Mumbai: Create Your Own Warli Story

Discover the simple beauty of Warli Art at a workshop in Mumbai.

India’s art story is as extensive and diverse as the country itself.  

Outside of India, we may be familiar with the refined and intricate Rajput miniature painting style of Rajasthan but across India, the richness of mythology and folklore has inspired a myriad of beautiful and unique tribal art forms.

While visiting Mumbai, you can discover Maharastra’s indigenous tribal art, Warli, that dates to 3000BC. Using the geometric vocabulary of a circle, triangle and a square, Warli is beautifully simple in its depiction of human life and indigenous customs & traditions.

Simple and Accessible to Non-Artists

Given this simplicity, it is an accessible art form for those who consider themselves as ‘non’ artists This is something that our good friend creative & sustainable tourism entrepreneur and passionate Mumbaiker Harshvardhan Singh Tanvar is hoping will work in Warli’s favour.

Like many tribal art forms worldwide, Warli is threatened by the progresses of modern life and the transformative effect it is having on traditional cultures.

Traditionally Warli art was painted by women on to the walls of huts contructed with branches, earth and cow dung. This provided the often red ochre background with the white paint created via a mixture of rice paste and gum. Bamboo sticks were then chewed to create a rudimentary paint brush. Paintings were only created on special occasions, such as to celebrate a wedding or harvest.

In the 1970’s Jivya Soma Mashe took this ritualistic tribal artform and started painting Warli for artistic virtues and creating artworks for commercial sale. Both of his sons are also talented proponents of this artfrom.

Creating Your Warli Story

Led by local Warli artist will help you create your own Warli art story. Past group members on our India Fabric Food & Fabulous tour have been inspired by grandchildren, childhood memories, life on the farm and hobbies with each member capturing these people and moments in time in the simple and bold geometric forms.

Today artists use a mix of traditional and modern techniques, such as a cow dung wash on cotton and paper to create an authentic base, with the detail created using modern paints and paintbrushes.

For your work of art a more familar stretched canvas pre-painted a rich brown forms the background with white acrylic paint and various sized brushes used to paint your own ‘Warli’ story.

For the ladies joining us on the Fabric, Food and Fabulous tour it is a wonderfully creative calm pause near the end of our busy adventure of amazing food, hospitality, on and off the beaten track sightseeing, shopping and hands-on workshops.