Scroll paintings have long served as moving storyboards, carrying narratives of community life, environment, labour, and belief through image, rhythm, and repetition. In the Deccan region, scroll painting traditions developed as visual storytelling practices where colour, motif, and sequence worked together to transmit knowledge across generations.

This one-day workshop introduces participants to the visual language of Deccani scroll painting, drawing connections to Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters. , which Participnats will explores how stories travel through land, memory, and shared cultural systems. Just as like a Songlines map journeys through song and movement, scroll paintings map stories through images arranged in sequence, allowing narratives to unfold across space.

Led by Cheriyal folk artist and cultural educator Diana, the session begins with an illustrated introduction to the history of Deccani-era scroll painting traditions and the significance of natural colours and motifs. Participants explore how borders, figures, landscapes, and everyday elements come together to form narrative compositions rooted in place and community.

Working with natural clay and stone pigments, gum arabic, and fine brushes, participants create their own painted scroll segments on canvas. The focus is on understanding materials, learning traditional motifs, and experiencing how colour preparation and careful hand-painting shape storytelling. The workshop encourages both observation and making, offering insight into how traditional art forms continue to speak to contemporary audiences.

Audience Takeaways: 

●      Learn the basics of Deccani scroll painting and narrative composition

●      Understand the preparation and use of natural pigments and materials

●      Explore how stories are mapped visually through sequence and motif

●      Gain insight into a traditional art form rooted in sustainability and community life

●      Create a painted scroll segment inspired by learned techniques

Artist Bio

Ms. Diana from Andhra Pradesh, is a passionate educator, writer, art therapist, and Cheriyal folk artist with 24 years of experience in the field of Art . Diana is an ardent promoter of Cheriyal art, a traditional art form native to Telangana, India. She has conducted workshops to raise awareness of this fading cultural heritage and was honored by the Cultural Ministry of India for her dedication

to folk art at the National Camp in Rajasthan. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, recently at the Jehangir Art Gallery Mumbai.

This workshop accompanies Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters, presented by the National Museum of Australia in partnership with the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art at the Humayun’s Tomb World Heritage Site Museum.