Customer Reviews

Painted Prayers: Women's Art in Village India

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I felt I was there with each page. I am from Madras, my mother taught me 'kolams' from th eage of five. Now in the USA, I am an educator,teaching Indian culture and dance. I have done these rice flour drawings in Greenbush MN four hundred miles from Mineapolis,children love them. This book has motivated me to travel to all the places mentioned and learn the other folk arts to complete my understanding of painted prayers. What a wonderful name.

I grew up in South India (Bangalore) and used to observe my mother draw "kolams", these intricate designs with rice flour, each one done without the aid of an outline or preliminary sketches. I had never seen any photo journal or essay acknowledge this simple art form. She would begin by washing the cement surface and then "drop" dots in a seemingly random pattern, and then go about connecting some dots and "drawing" lines with the white flour around other dots, until the pattern emerged. The next day it would be a different design.

I happen to have an autographed copy of this book and is one of my prized possessions on Indian art. The fact the author takes you on a trip to other places in India to capture the essence of simple art evident in the villages throughout India is an added bonus for me.