Santoshi Shyam

Santoshi (Tekam) Shyam started drawing at the age of six. On Sunday afternoons, she would sit between her parents, Narmada Tekam and Rambai, and draw sketches of animals and trees, which she would compare with her parent's paintings. The main motif in her work is nature in all its aspects. Tigers and crocodiles predominate. Certain rituals also influenced her a lot, like Mauni Upvas, in which the person who fasts must stay absolutely silent (mouni) like a cow and cross under a cow seven times. Santoshi saw the ritual being performed in the village once and was fascinated. Since then it has become another recurring motif of her painting.