Mayur and Tushar Vayeda are brothers who belong to the indigenous Warli people of the village of Ganjad, in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, India. The Vayedas’ practice is rooted in traditional Warli painting, a 5000-year-old art form that originated in cave painting. Varli, the Warli language, does not have a formal writing system, so painting pictures – traditionally on the mud walls of village houses – has long been considered the mode of writing and passing on knowledge.

While the brothers learnt the ancient practices of Warli painting from a young age through family members, they both left their villages to study in other fields in Mumbai. After travelling around India, they decided to give up career prospects to explore and share their culture. They seek new possibilities for the historically coded tradition of Warli art – in their words, to ‘move Warli tradition forward, without diluting its essence’. The Vayedas experiment with translating the contents of traditional wall paintings to more accessible formats, such as books, canvas, murals and installation, and document Warli stories and contemporary life.

The brothers’ recent painting projects document Warli narratives on an unprecedented scale and level of detail. In two series – ‘Dhartari: The creation of the world’ 2021 and ‘Disappearing spirits and childhood memories’ 2021 – they seek to share and explain some of these important historical narratives.