Woman with a Basket Painting

Salomi Shah was born, raised and currently resides in a Gujarati family in Mumbai, India. The subject matter of her work is mainly Madhubani paintings. Madhubani paintings is an ancient form of Indian art that was prevalent at 5000 BCE according to some Hindu texts. It mostly depict men and its association with nature and the scenes of deities, natural objects like the sun, the moon, and plants like tulsi along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings. Generally no space is left empty; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and even geometric designs. Traditionally, painting was one of the skills that was passed down from generation to generation in the families of the Mithila region in Bihar, mainly by women. Salomi uses paper and ink to create her artworks. The inspirations behind her work are the rural women in India who spend hours creating masterpieces of wall art that depict various scenes and important life events that very often go unnoticed. Her artwork mainly depicts monochromatic tones and Indian motifs. She would like the audience to appreciate and glorify the ancient forms of rich Indian folk art that is fit to beautify the walls of homes and royal palaces. Her artwork compares to historical artworks that dates back 1000s of years ago during the reign of King Ram. The actual date remains unknown. The artwork is sold unframed.