Hope is a girl selling Fruit

Description

"I want to paint women's lives, what they go through, what they make of it - " In the light of the current debates on Indian women's mobility and choices, young Mithila Artist Amrita Das offers a disarmingly fresh perspective. Her visual tale is gentle yet resolute, the art treading treading a fine balance tradition and innovation. In the process, she manages to steer the Mithila tradition of women's art from the domesticity of its origins to actually questioning the traditional confines of women's lives. 'Hope is a Girl Selling Fruit' is a gentle, reflective account of a young woman's thoughts and feelings as she comes into contact with the larger world. The rich imagery takes the story into another realm, inviting the reader to interpret it at many levels - a universal book that is truly for all ages.

Amrita Das is a young artist working within the Mithila style of folk painting. Mithila art originated from women in rural communities in the state of Bihar, in eastern India. Women from these communities traditionally decorate the floors and walls of their homes with strong, traditional designs and symbols. Amrita is part of a new generation of Mithila artists who are pushing the boundaries of this art form to radical new ends, and is becoming recognized as one of the tradition's most exciting new painters.

"A visual delight, an emotional journey and an inspirational story... a wonderful window on an Indian woman's life - and her growth as a person with choices." - Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party, UK; Former Editor, Guardian Weekly "If a picture is worth a thousand words, a Madhubani painting must be worth a million. For it tells not one story but many. And you discover new ones the longer you gaze at it." - Kalpana Sharma, Independent journalist/columnist