overview

Bhuri Bai - My Life As An Artist combines research by the MAP Academy along with paintings created by Bhuri Bai animating her extraordinary journey up in an Adivasi community to finding her way to the city and working as a daily wage laborer, and becoming a globally recognized artist.

Driven by an autobiographical and archival impulse, she draws from her encounters with flora and fauna in the forests surrounding her village and her later experiences and travels as a contemporary artist.

The exhibition is a reflection of the ritual painting and practice of the Pithora murals through Bhuri Bai’s distinct brushstrokes, use of color and form, and modern narrative.

About the artist

Bhuri Bai is an artist, illustrator and muralist who lives and works in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. She grew up in Pithol, a remote village at the border of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, and is the first woman from her community — the Bhils — to paint on paper and canvas.