Abstract
This article analyzes the transformation of Adivasi (“Tribal”) painting in western India. Drawing on theoretical approaches to the agency of art objects, it shows how from being a divinity with the power to bring prosperity, the Pithora paintings have emerged as a form of art that can be interpreted as text, and placed within new canons of beauty and style. Here this transformation is shown to be altering the semiotic processes, and the social and divine relations that the painting involves. I argue that, in becoming meaningful, Pithora is acquiring a new kind of efficacy in its ability to mediate competing processes of social and religious change.
Highlights
This article analyzes the transformation of Adivasi (‘‘Tribal’’) painting in western India
Drawing on theoretical approaches to the agency of art objects, it shows how from being a divinity with the power to bring prosperity, the Pithora paintings have emerged as a form of art that can be interpreted as text, and placed within new canons of beauty and style
Pithora paintings stand today for the Rathava Adivasis, just as Madhubani paintings have become iconic for the Mathila Brahmin women of northern Bihar [Brown 1996, 2006; K
Summary
Drawing on theoretical approaches to the agency of art objects, it shows how from being a divinity with the power to bring prosperity, the Pithora paintings have emerged as a form of art that can be interpreted as text, and placed within new canons of beauty and style This transformation is shown to be altering the semiotic processes, and the social and divine relations that the painting involves. Drawing on discussions about the agency of art objects [Gell 1998; Pinney 2004], it examines how, from being a divinity with the power to bring prosperity, Pithora is becoming a form of art that can be interpreted as text and assessed according to new canons of beauty and style This is giving rise to new social and semiotic relations, as well as to a series of contestations over the nature of Adivasis’ past and their identity. It is gaining a new agency to mediate processes of social and religious change
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