Home Art

                                                            

              Home art is a decorative forms of painting on mud walls of their huts or craft done by common village folk in an attempt to beautify themselves and their  surroundings. It is also an effort to give an aesthetic look to their house. The art forms, that may take the form of human figures, animals, flowers, decorative designs, are associated with religion. Such forms are painted on auspicious occasions and therefore they do not die, they survive.  

           Home art is a vast subject and includes in its gamut all kinds of floor decorations (variously known as chowk, alpana, mandala, rangoli etc.) and  bitti chitra. , The genesis of these paintings lies in 'protection'. Those who decorate their walls with bithi chitra are trying to secure their houses from evil spirits. The wish for plentiful supply of food, being blessed with progeny is also expressed in symbols. The artist, directed by individual talent under the influence of surrounding culture, creates a variety of patterns and forms. This has led to the evolution of abstract designs and multiplicity in the fabrication of human form.

          In several parts of India, especially among the adivasis and Hindus in rural areas  women  artists produced a type of home art whose boundaries are within the house. Mud floors and mud wall are suitable canvas for such arts. The focal point is kohbar ghar- the inner room of the house where the god is installed.  Though each and every home in India is the place where we can see this type of art, Madhubani painting from Mithila, Bihar, Warli paintings from Maharashtra are  the perfect example of this  art. They religiously  paint and draw designs on walls and floors of their houses on various occasions.

            Floor designs called Alpana are found in almost all the states of northern India in various auspicious occasions and festivals.. In Tamilnadu and Andra Pradesh women draw rangoli or designs with symbolic diagrams on floor near the entrance to their homes every morning throughout the year, whereas during Pongal and other festivals they create special designs with large, complex structure and intricate linear details. The diagrams, forms and symbols used in such designs are merely decorative. Instead, they are believed to generate the magical protective and propitious energy of tantric mandalas that have their roots in primitive consciousness and Vedic culture. Some diagrams have forms and symbols that have not changed during the last two thousand years or more.