What changes when a tribal art form, once performed as a ritual part of life, becomes something to be bought and sold? What are the reasons for this shift, and what in turn are the effects – both on the painters themselves as well as on their art?

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‘Warli Painting’ tries to address the above questions by mapping a chronicle of inter-woven memories as well as external pressures. Crucial here are of course the views of the Warli painters themselves, but also the views of those outside persons who ‘discovered’ Warli painting and brought it to the gaze – and use – of a detached urban audience. For indeed, the past, present and future of Warli painting was permanently altered by this one innocent act.

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Individuals as well as movements make history, and looking back is in a way also a preparation for looking forward. It is the intention of this film to open windows by pointing, not to close them by making conclusions. Warli painting as an art is not lost – it just needs to be found.