Jodhaiya Bai’s art transcends silos

A major retrospective highlights the late artist's contemporary treatment of traditional motifs and ancestral wisdom

- Avantika Bhuyan

Kaitha ka ped, baaghin aur uske bache'; and (right) Jodhaiya Bai Baiga.

Colours seem to have spilled onto the walls of Ojas Art as paintings by the late artist Jodhaiya Bai Baiga light up the gallery.

Her works feature two of her favourite motifs, drawn from the forests surrounding her village in Madhya Pradesh’s Umaria district—Bageswar, or the tiger god, a symbol of protection for members of the Baiga tribe, and the mahua tree, which represents sustenance and regeneration. More than 50 paintings are now being exhibited as part of Bloom at Dusk, a major retrospective curated by Minhazz Majumdar.