As part of Radha Sutra: Stories Across Borders, FolkDeep recently hosted an online Warli Art Workshop with Brain Injury Matters, facilitated by Sujie Saini.
The workshop introduced participants to Warli not simply as a visual art form, but as a way of understanding how communities record everyday life, relationships, nature, movement, celebration and memory.
Warli art is known for its simple geometric forms, yet behind those forms are stories of people, place and collective experience. During the session, participants explored where Warli comes from, how it has traditionally been used, and why its visual language continues to hold such cultural significance.
What made the workshop especially meaningful was the shift from learning to creating.
Participants first engaged with the basic forms and patterns of Warli art and then began using them to develop their own visual stories. Rather than simply copying a traditional image, they were encouraged to think about what they wanted to express through the art — a memory, an experience, a feeling, an everyday moment or an imagined scene.
This is an important part of FolkDeep’s approach to cultural learning.
FolkDeep believes that engaging with a traditional art form should go beyond its appearance. Understanding the context, meaning and stories behind a tradition allows people to connect with it more thoughtfully, while creative participation gives them space to respond in their own way.
Through Radha Sutra, FolkDeep continues to explore how living traditions can travel across communities without losing the stories that give them meaning. Workshops such as this create opportunities for cultural learning, creative expression and connection, while also recognising folk artists and communities as holders of valuable cultural knowledge.
A heartfelt thank you to Brain Injury Matters for welcoming FolkDeep into their community, to Sujie Saini for facilitating the session with care and warmth, and to every participant who brought curiosity, openness and creativity to the workshop.
Every artwork created carried something personal, reminding us that folk art is not only about preserving stories from the past.
It can also become a language for telling new ones.