The Warli are an indigenous people who originate from the rural Thane District in Maharashtra, India. Warli painting has its roots in traditions extending as far back as 2500 BCE. Originally practised by women using rice paste and a bamboo stick on the red mud and cowdung walls of their dwellings, Warli painting was used to record auspicious and ceremonial occasions.

Balu Ladkya Dumada’s depictions of Warli stories and daily life are executed with rich detail and at dramatic scale. In The God appears in the form of a crane bird 2010, Dumada depicts the divine as manifesting in the common form of a bird. Across this vastly detailed canvas, the artist narrates the story of a woman who gives birth to a crane that eventually marries a princess and is turned into a man. While this story has particular significance to the Warli people, a similar story arc is found in various cultures around the world.