Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2009, page 56

Music & Arts

Mithila Painting at CAFAM

	“Children’s Desires,” a 2008 Mithila painting on view at the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum (Staff photo S. Twair).

MITHILA PAINTINGS from India’s central state of Bihar arrived in Los Angeles in April and will be on view through Sept. 13 at the Crafts and Folk Art Museum, 5814 Wilshire Blvd.

Under the title of “Ancient Gods and Modern Politics,” the exhibition demonstrates how the Mithila women painters concentrated on traditional topics of life cycles and domestic rituals until mid-2000, when they began to express personal concerns and critique society, whether regarding the plight of immigrant workers or women aborting baby girls.

Traditionally, Mathila paintings were created on walls and floors. After they were discovered by a British colonial official in 1934, the women in poor rural communities were encouraged to paint on paper as a source of income.

Black ink and acrylic on handmade paper is the medium for these stylized works, including a 2005 painting entitled “Tsunami in Sri Lanka” and another depicting migrant workers in an elaborate tree of life.

—Pat McDonnell Twair