In the villages around Janakpur, in Nepal’s Madhesh Province, women have painted the mud walls of their homes for generations. Before a wedding, the bride’s room is covered in peacocks, fish, lotuses and bamboo, each a symbol of love, fertility and good fortune. This is Mithila art, and it is one of the most recognisable folk traditions in South Asia.
How to recognise it
- No empty space: backgrounds are filled with flowers, vines and dots.
- Double outlines: shapes are drawn with two parallel lines, filled with fine hatching.
- Bright, flat colour: traditionally made from turmeric, indigo, lamp black and flowers.
- Animals and nature: peacocks, elephants, fish and the sun and moon appear again and again.
My mother painted our walls every Chhath. I learned by holding her colour pots. Now I paint on canvas so the pictures don’t wash away with the rain.
Sita Karna, painter
On canvas
Sita paints with acrylics on primed cotton so her work can travel and last, but keeps the traditional subjects and line work. Her Mithila Peacock took nine days, most of it spent on the patterns inside the tail feathers. See all village and folk paintings.
