Lado Bai
From the village of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh, Bhil artist Lado Bai creates art reflects the flora and fauna of her environment along with the customs and festivals of her tribe. Her work is informed by the timeless tradition of Bhil painting, portraying ritualized depictions of Pithora, the Bhil folklore god.
Lado Bai’s inspirations came from the stories told her elders, and her personal faith that the gods will be pleased by her art. Her paintings exude in simplicity—a characteristic quality of tribal art—while emphasizing on the storytelling aspect of the work, rather than its realism. Modest in form, but striking in impression, Lado Bai’s subjects are dark figures across the canvas creating an effect of striations and waves with their colourfully dotted forms.
Under the guidance of the artist Jagdish Swaminathan, Lado Bai began to transfer her paintings from the rough mud walls of her tribal home to paper and canvas in the 1970s at the Roopanker Museum at Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal.
Today, the artist works at the Adivasi Lok Kala Academy. Her works have been exhibited in France, U.K., and extensively throughout India.
