Madhavi Parekh

Madhvi Parekh (born 1942) is an Indian contemporary artist whose work explores childhood memories, women’s craft, folk art, and Indian myths. Born in Sanjaya village near Ahmedabad, Gujarat, she began painting in the 1960s, encouraged by her husband, artist Manu Parekh. Her early works drew inspiration from rural memories, folk stories, and traditional rangoli designs. Influenced by Paul Klee and Francesco Clemente, she developed a contemporary visual language rooted in folk traditions without following any single folk-art style. Parekh works across oil, acrylic, and watercolour, creating vivid and surreal imagery focused on women, children, and rural and urban life. She has exhibited widely in India and abroad and received the National Award from Lalit Kala Akademi in 1979 and the Kailash Lalit Kala Award in 2017.