The stories concern painters from Raghurajpur, a small village in Odisha, Northeast India. Raghurajpur is famous for crafts — cloth paintings, palm leaves, papier-mâché masks, stone and woodcarvings — and draws Indian as well as foreign visitors. An increasing number of villagers turn to craft making as a means of living.

Each story presents a moment that has shaped the life of a painter. In their unity, however, the stories paint a larger picture of life amongst Indian craft makers and what painting means to them.

I have written Painting stories in close collaboration with painters I have known for more than thirty years. They want people to know what it is like to live as an artisan in a rapidly changing society.