Contemporary Art from India

By Will Noel

I was strolling through Special Collections earlier when I came across Ellen Ambrosone, our South Asian Studies Librarian, showing off a new acqusition to some visitors from the University of Pennsylvania, appropriately enough in our large format room, as this acquisition is five foot square!

The object is called “Corona Ek Vishwa Mahamari” (Corona – A Global Pandemic, 2020) by Amit Mahadev Dombhare, a Warli artist from Maharashtra, India. The artist invites viewers to linger over different sections of the work where he has meticulously detailed the global impact of the pandemic. For example, an N95 mask with a chain, padlock, and key encapsulates the globe and symbolizes the standstill that countries came to during lockdowns. Airplanes covered in the virus imply the cancellation of all flights. The religious symbols on the perimeter of the painting suggest that people were locked out places of worship during the height of the pandemic. At the center is a pair of open hands being washed with water and covered in hand sanitizer. Above them is a pair of lungs that are connected to the malicious virus showering particles in all directions. In the lower corner, the viewer can see a hospital overwhelmed with patients.

The painting depicts the experience of the first wave of the pandemic and is one of 17 pieces of COVID-19-related folk and tribal art from South Asia that was acquired for the Graphic Arts collection. In addition to Warli paintings, researchers will find pieces by Mithila and Gond artists who were taking on a range of COVID-19 themes including virus origins, lockdowns, food security, vaccine rollout, and other topics. Each piece asks us to recall our own experiences of the pandemic and to reflect on its manifestation in India, too.