The Background: More than ten years ago, Daricha Foundation initiated field research in Purulia, particularly in Santal villages located along the Chhota Nagpur plateau bordering Jharkhand. The objective was to identify continuities of wall art traditions in rural West Bengal.
During this research, a series of striking monochromatic mud walls—richly ornamented and prepared in anticipation of the Sohrai harvest festival—were encountered. These walls were etched entirely by Santal women using their fingers, demonstrating remarkable skill, precision, and fluidity. The murals, created on freshly plastered mud surfaces, revealed a sophisticated visual language rooted in nature, ritual, and collective memory. At the time of discovery, this form of wall art was largely unknown outside the community, underscoring the urgency of documentation and wider dissemination.
Recognising the cultural significance and fragility of this tradition, Daricha Foundation undertook extensive documentation with support from a grant provided by the Anthropological Survey of India. As part of this initiative, wall art practices were documented across more than 70 Santal villages in and around Purulia. This phase of work resulted in a comprehensive visual and ethnographic record of Santal Sohrai wall art, capturing motifs, techniques, processes, and the social contexts in which the art was created.
Over the years, and particularly in the period following the COVID-19 pandemic, a marked decline in the practice of traditional Sohrai wall art was observed. The labor-intensive and highly skilled nature of the technique has increasingly given way to newer, faster, and less demanding decorative trends. As a result, only a small number of Santal women currently retain full knowledge of the traditional methods and motifs. Efforts to engage younger generations through workshops met with limited success, due both to lack of sustained interest and the reality that mastery of the technique requires long-term experiential learning.
In response to the endangered status of the art form, Daricha Foundation initiated a series of preservation efforts that emerged organically from the needs of the community and the urgency of the situation. Around 2023, as the risk of disappearance became increasingly apparent, select master practitioners were invited to translate traditional Sohrai motifs onto handmade paper. This intervention functioned as an immediate and necessary response—allowing the visual vocabulary to be preserved beyond the impermanent mud walls while ensuring that the artists’ authorship remained central.
The resulting works were exhibited in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore, where they received significant appreciation. Importantly, this marked the first instance in which many of the women received direct financial compensation for their art. The exposure and remuneration contributed to a renewed sense of value, confidence, and purpose among the artists.
Building on this momentum, and seeking to expand the possibilities for the art form without displacing its cultural grounding, Daricha Foundation later initiated a collaborative installation project. With support from Dulal Mukherjee, the renowned, multiple award-winning architect who helms Dulal Mukherjee Associates and through his empathetic engagement with the community and his interest in vernacular architecture, a major installation was created at his farmhouse in Badu village, near Kolkata, by Santal women artists. The process involved the careful preparation and layering of clay on existing brick surfaces, followed by the application of traditional stylized motifs inspired by nature. The installation exemplifies a form of “slow art”—a meditative, embodied practice rooted in patience, care, and inherited knowledge.
The Installation Project at Badu
The project involved the conversion of a central structure within a large lawn, in Mr Mukherjee`s farmhouse, into a mud-walled edifice replete with Santal Sohrai murals.
The original structure which served as a workshop space, had windows made of bamboo splits. These were sealed with brickwork to create a continuous surface on all four sides, barring an entrance and exit, suitable for the murals. The execution of the wall art was undertaken by a group of skilled Santal women artists—Shraboni Baskey, Parboti Murmu, and Bodoni Murmu—whose embodied knowledge of materials and techniques guided every stage of the process. These women, from different villages in Purulia, took up residence at the installation site for over two weeks.
From Brick to ornamented Mud Walls
The making of the wall murals unfolded through multiple carefully sequenced layers, each requiring time, precision, and sensitivity to environmental conditions.
The initial stage involved the application of a foundational mud layer over a period of four days. Unlike in Purulia, where the base layer is stony clay, the women had to adapt, using clay sourced at the venue and incorporating straw dust with it to ensure strength and durability in the new setting. The mixture was applied evenly across the surface by hand, establishing a stable base. This layer was then left to dry naturally for approximately ten days, allowing it to harden and settle.
The next stage comprised the plastering. A mixture of bele mati (sandy loam) combined with cow dung, a traditional binding and finishing material, was prepared. After the first coat had partially dried, a second coat was applied, to create a smoother and more refined surface. The edges were meticulously evened out by hand, demonstrating the artists’ tactile precision. Following this, the surface was polished using sheets of bamboo bark, a technique that imparts a subtle sheen while compacting the material.
A subsequent layer consisting purely of cow dung was then applied. Once dried, the surface was treated with a specially crafted grass broom, which was used to brush and smoothen the wall further, removing inconsistencies and enhancing the finish. The wall was now ready for the murals.
Wall Embellishment: Unlike other tribal wall mural traditions, the Santals do not paint their murals. The women first covered the walls with a layer of poli mati (alluvial clay), in sweeping, rhythmic motions using a clay soaked cloth. After this layer had dried, it was then moistened, section by section, with a more diluted mixture of the same clay, on which the Sohrai motifs were then swiftly etched, before the surface dried. Using their fingers as primary tools, the artists executed floral designs and borders with remarkable control and fluidity, bringing to life a repertoire of traditional motifs inspired by nature. The process was both meditative and communal, embodying the ethos of “slow art.”
As the walls gradually dried in the winter sun, the motifs gradually began to reveal themselves. Through every line or curve where the fingers were pressed, the darker hue of the dung coated wall became visible, against the pale beige of the poli mati, resulting in an exquisite monochromatic composition, each wall distinct from the other.
To simulate the black coloured plinths of Santal homes, the lower base of the outer walls was marked with a black band, created using a mixture of lamp soot, water, and cow dung. This grounding element not only framed the composition visually but also echoed traditional aesthetic conventions found in village homes.
The collaborative installation at Badu stands as a significant moment in the recontextualization of Santal Sohrai wall art, translating a deeply rooted rural practice into a contemporary, urban-facing space while retaining its material integrity and processual authenticity.
Through such Mud Walls to Urban Spaces projects, the Foundation envisions creating meaningful collaborations between rural artists and urban audiences. Such initiatives aim to provide a renewed platform for this ancient indigenous tradition, stimulate interest among younger practitioners, and ensure sustainable livelihoods for the specialized women artists of Purulia.