Artist: Philomina Tirkey
Daughter of : Andhrias & Rosa Tirkey
Born:  23^rd April 1962
Tribe: Oraon
Village: Dato, Jharkhand, India
Address: Hazaribagh 825301, Jharkhand, India  Tel: 0091-6546-263278

Married to Bulu Imam, they have three daughters who are following her tradition in art. She was born in the Adivasi village of Dato near Hazaribagh and she learned the sacred art of her tribe, folk dances and story and song tradition from her mother. A professional artist since 1999 Philomina paints in the broad, geometric Oraon Totem style as well as in the delicate tradition of flower and animal painting in her tribe. Her work also depicts flowers, birds, landscapes and animals. She is an accomplished textile artist specializing in the designing and stitching of traditional Adivasi quilts called Ledras made by her tribe. She is also a prominent spokewomen for her tribe having been a member of the Human Rights Commission, Jharkhand and the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, Geneva.

Experience

• In March 2000 she led a one month residency by four tribal women artists to paint fourteen murals at the Djamu Gallery of the Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia.
• In 2001 delivered a lecture on the Culture of Jharkhand as a Delegate on behalf of Tribal Women Artists Cooperative at the 19^th Session of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Population conference at Geneva, 22-26 July, 2001 and displayed her paintings at the UN Headquarters, Geneva. .
• In 2001 gave a working demonstration in the technique of Khovar and Sohrai style of painting at the Bellevue Gallery in Berlin (August 2001)
• In September 2003 she participated in a working exhibition of Khovar and Sohrai paintings sponsored by the Heinrich Boll Foundation as a part of the Asia Pacific Weeks, Berlin.
• In September 2003 she again participated in a working exhibition of Khovar and Sohrai paintings sponsored by the Volkerkunde Museum, Heidelberg and Adivasi Koordination Germany, Kassel, held at the Volkerkund Museum, Heidelberg.

Exhibitions:          

• Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, 1999

• Cymroza Gallery, Mumbai, 2000

• Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, 2000

• Djamu Gallery, Sydney, 2000

• Victoria Crafts Council, Melbourne, 2001

• Therese Dion Gallery of Contemporary Art, Montreal, 2001

• Bellvue Gallery, Berlin , 200l

• Eppelheim Art Gallery, Germany, March-April 2002

• Kassel Art Gallery, Germany, July-August, 2002

• Stuttgart Art Gallery, Germany, October 2002

• Cymroza Gallery, Bombay, 2002

• Maxmuller Bhawan, New Delhi, July 2002

• Boras Kunstmuseum, Boras, Sweden, September, 2003

• Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin, September, 2003

• Volkerkunde Museum, Heidelberg, September, 2003

• Ludwigsberg, Feb.-March 2004

• State Museum of Ethnography (Volkerkunde), Dresden, May-June 2004

Major Collections:   

• (Mural) Casula Art Centre, Casula, Sydney

• (Quilt) Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

• (Quilt) Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

• (Quilt) Dr.Dietmar Rothermund collection, Heidelberg

• (Painting) Late Soli P.Godrej collection, Bombay

• (Painting) Kekoo & Khorshed Gandhy collection, Bombay