Jivya Soma Mashe has transformed the ritual art of the Warli people into a relevant contemporary expression that elaborates their original vision on the rapport between nature and culture. His work has significantly impacted both on the social and cultural development of the Warli people and on the perceptions of Indian society. Traditionally, it was only women who painted a limited range of fertility images on internal mud walls during harvest and marriage ceremonies. Mashe was the first Warli man to paint images. As a child, he temporarily lost the power of speech, taught himself to communicate by drawing in the dust and was allowed to paint during ceremonies. When a government programme promoting tribal arts supplied materials, Mashe quickly adapted, applying mud to the paper before painting with the traditional reed brush and rice paste. Working intensely, he moved beyond traditions to new dynamic composition and lively detail in depictions of social life, folk tales and cultural beliefs. The Warli philosophy embodied in Mashe’s paintings emphasises the interconnectedness of human beings and nature. His vision shows the balance and reciprocity of natural elements in universal rhythmic cycles of movement and change. Like many local forms of knowledge, the Warlis’ acute social and environmental observations match scientific findings about human psychology and sustainable ecology, and provide support to their development as a contemporary society.
Mashe’s work has been exhibited in Mumbai and around the country, and in 1976 he won India’s National Award for Tribal Art. Major exhibitions include Magiciens de la Terre (1989) and Other Masters (1998), gaining acclaim and international recognition for this tribal art form. Inspired by Mashe’s example, a strong movement of Warli art has been established, making it one of the few pre-Aryan forms of art that continues to flourish in India.
Jivya Soma Mashe is honoured for his creative reinvention of an art vocabulary that was disappearing, for his vivid representation of the Warli vision of nature and culture in equilibrium, for highlighting the contemporary relevance of local forms of knowledge, and for his significant contribution to the culture and development of the tribal peoples.
Jivya Soma Mashe in front of his work
Work by Jivya Soma Mashe
Warli paintings in Paris
Jivya Soma Mashe on Wikipedia
Biography online
2009