Shelly Jyoti

Honeymoon Chamber
ink on paper
15 x 11 in. 

Here comes the bride’ is a very important event in the household of women where this folk art in India originates. The honey moon chamber for bride and the groom has walls fully painted by the women of the village to bless and welcome the newlyweds. These paintings are symbolically rich as the images like lotus, bamboo groove, fish, parrot, turtle, sun, moon, become iconographic to the bride and groom for blessing them for fertility and prosperity…e.g.

In Indian context, the parrots symbolize the lovebirds. Fishes which are emblems of fertility and sun and moon are symbolic of life-giving qualities. In this painting, there are six brides faces in the lotus which represent woman as a child, at puberty, a bride, a mother and a caretaker of the family and finally her own as an individual in her life journey respectively. Organized around it are the many subsidiary symbols.

© Shelly Jyoti