Bheentichitra created by Champabai Chitrakar at the Tribal Art Museum in Bhopal

Ifâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088you visit the Tribal Art Museum in Bhopal, you will spot beautiful jalis (window lattices) and mud walls that come alive with folk tales painted by tribal Gond artist Champabai Chitrakar. She narrates the stories through sculpted three-dimensional clay dolls, monkeys, birds and floral designs on the walls. Then, she paints them with myriad dotted patterns, a signature of the tribal Gond art of Central India. This form of 3D tribal art is known as Bheentichitra, developed from a post-harvest tradition of decorating newly whitewashed and repaired houses. Champabai belongs to Puhputra, a remote village in Chhattisgarh, known for a small group of artists who have developed this remarkable and unique sculptural tradition to decorate their surroundings.