Madhvi Parekh was born in 1942 in Sanjaya, a small village in Gujarat. Largely self-taught, she drew extensively from the visual traditions and memories of her rural childhood, which became an enduring source for her artistic practice. Her early exposure to folk imagery, village life and local storytelling informed a distinctive vocabulary of simplified forms, vivid colours and decorative motifs.

Married to artist Manu Parekh, Madhvi began painting in the 1960s, initially encouraged by her husband. Over time, she developed an individual practice that moved beyond conventional folk-art traditions while retaining their visual rhythms and symbolic qualities. Her works often transform memories of childhood, everyday experiences, dreams and imagination into compositions that move freely between reality and fantasy.

Parekh's imagery is populated by figures, animals, birds, plants and architectural elements, frequently arranged within densely patterned and vividly coloured spaces. Rather than directly reproducing traditional folk forms, she reinterprets them through a personal visual language rooted in memory and imagination. Her practice has continued to evolve while maintaining a strong connection to the rural and cultural experiences of her early life.

Over the course of her career, Parekh has exhibited widely in India and internationally, and her works are held in prominent public and private collections. She continues to live and work in New Delhi, where her practice remains closely connected to memory, storytelling, folklore and the imaginative possibilities of everyday life.