Rights and Rituals

Title: Rights and Rituals
Size: 10' x 12'
Medium: Warli Art
Type: Tribal Culture

 

Niket Anoop's "Rights and Rituals" is a vibrant Warli painting, measuring 10' x 12', and beautifully showcases the cultural richness of tribal life in the North Sahyadru range of Maharashtra, India. The artist's portrayal captures the essence of tribal enjoyment through the unique and traditional art form of Warli.

The painting has been framed in a brown wooden frame. Inside of this frame, we have a border which is a zig zag pattern of a white background and black inlays going around the artwork. Inside of this, there is yet another smaller border with diagonal lines set in a thin square border, this border is made in black This artwork only has a background colour with triangular, circular and line-based shapes and figures. The background of the artwork has a gradient of orange flowing down from the top down- due to the use of water this orange colour diffuses into lighter saffron as it is brought down occupying almost 90% of the background and ultimately diffusing into a light green as it goes down. Against this background, there is a scenery of 5 tribal people dancing in the foreground to the tune of two drummers who are playing drums set next to a row of of plants on either side represented by elemental lines only. The tribal people are dancing with their hands held together, their feet are in the green segment of the painting, their bodies are depicted with a pair of inverted equilateral triangles connected to each other at its vertex, and there is a thin line on top of the inverted base of the upper triangle denoting the neck and a circle depicting their faces. The figure in the middle has hair spikes, while the other four, two on either side are clearly women despite identical bodies but with hairstyles of women. They are all holding each other's hands in a V shape apart from the two women on the edges who have one of their arms in the air. Above these dancing people, we have two tribal drummers in the centre, each playing a big drum, the base of the drum is seen to be on the floor, it has a vertical line pattern for design in the middle. The drums are to the waist of the drummers as we can only see one inverted triangle depicting the torso of the drummers. Each has a neck and a head just like the dancers, both are alternating their playing hands- while one is striking the drum with a drumstick, the other is striking the drum with his hand. Both are carrying a stick in the non-playing hand which is in the air, indicating an alternating motion in playing. There are a pair of three plants on either side of the drummers- the plants are in descending order of height on either side- the smallest one inside has four branches, the second one has six branches and the tallest one on the outside has eight branches. The plants extend to the border of the painting.
The whole painting has a black line hatched border with rows of black triangles with the apex of the triangle towards the frame.

Niket Anoop's "Rights and Rituals" not only pays homage to Warli art's simplicity and cultural significance but also serves as a vibrant portrayal of the joy, dance, and ritualistic celebrations within the tribal community. The unique composition and cultural narrative make this artwork a visual delight and a testament to the artist's skill in conveying the essence of tribal lives