‘Bloom at Dusk’: A major solo showcases Jodhaiya Bai Baiga's unique artistic language

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.

The octogenarian, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2023, passed away a year later. Her art defies categorisation— while she drew on traditional motifs, her observations of everyday life in Umaria and treatment of those experiences was very contemporary. Take, for instance, The Burning of Bandhavgarh, in which Jodhaiya Bai responded to rising instances of forest fires and environmental loss, and what that meant to indigenous communities, whose lives are so intertwined with the local ecology. Her works have travelled to exhibitions in Milan and Paris. “Her paintings endure as songs of resilience—vibrant, intuitive and inseparable from the sacred world that shaped her,” states the curatorial note.

No mention of Jodhaiya Bai’s art can be complete without recounting the inspiring story of how her tryst with painting started. She did not have an easy life, making ends meet by selling wood and cow dung. She was in her 60s when her husband, a labourer, died. Jodhaiya Bai was around 67 when a chance meeting with the late artist Ashish Swami changed the trajectory of her life. “Swami (an alumnus of Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan) used to run the Jangan Tasveer Khana, which started off as a studio space in the nearby village of Lorha. She started learning how to paint— and never looked back,” states a 2022 Lounge article. The exhibition is in fact being presented in association with Ashish Swami Centre for Arts and Ram chander Nath Foundation.

The late artist evolved with time, first working with clay and painting on gourds, and then transitioning to acrylic paints on paper and canvas. Her works stand out for their luminosity and vibrance. A personal favourite is Kaitha ka ped, baaghin aur uske bache from 2023, which doesn’t just stand out for the masterful use of colour but also for evoking a sense of joy. She has created an image of balance, with a brief moment of co-existence between the tigress and her cubs and the avian inhabit ants of the forest. Another one that stands out is Bholenath aur Mahua ka Ped, in which she has experimented with scale, showing the deity as larger-than-life. Jodhaiya Bai’s paintings continue to speak beyond her lifetime not just for their themes and treatment but also to show that it is never too late to tap into one’s creative self. “Paints can help change your life,” she had remarked.

At Ojas Art, Delhi, till 11 March (closed on Mondays).