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My current practice moves seamlessly into public practice through projects that utilize the inherent participatory nature of craft-based media as a trigger for social engagement and change. Being a woman from the Indian middle class and witnessing the social despair of caste and gender inequality, working with marginalized women was an organic extension of my art practice. I create platforms, which challenges the orthodox norms of the economy of creativity and create equal opportunities and financial independence for marginalized communities through their knowledge, skills, and experiences. We work together to create textile art and interdisciplinary media installations, which aims to initiate discourse and generate awareness around that feeling of disparity.
Since 2015, I am working on a community art project ‘Quilt Culture’ with 30 craftswomen in Pune city India. They make traditional Maharashtrian hand-stitched quilts (called as godhadi), made up of layers of upcycled fabrics by the elderly ladies of the family in a collaborative way. This long term association allowed me to closely experience and reflect on the vulnerable situation of women within the social fabric of India with its precarious elements of strong patriarchy and casteism. The attempt is to challenge the capitalist top-down model by following egalitarian collaborative creative process, where all the women contribute to owning and running Quilt Culture. The financial independence gained through this project helps in generating a sense of identity, awareness, and confidence.
Now Quilt Culture is owned and run by craftswomen themselves. Archana Jagtap is a young educated women from the community and she represents the business. A major part of the project was to enable Archana with proper understanding of business, book-keeping and sells. I-Create India and Pragati Foundation helped us in these training and still providing necessary guidance. In project Quilt Culture, I work with smaller community initiatives to encourage their independent business with the possibilities of online market. It aims for the social, economic and environmental sustainability by generating financial opportunities for marginalized communities and by recycling waste fabrics into beautifully crafted products.
Now Quilt Culture is owned and run by craftswomen themselves. Archana Jagtap is a young educated women from the community and she represents the business. A major part of the project was to enable Archana with proper understanding of business, book-keeping and sells. I-Create India and Pragati Foundation helped us in these training and still providing necessary guidance. In project Quilt Culture, I work with smaller community initiatives to encourage their independent business with the possibilities of online market. It aims for the social, economic and environmental sustainability by generating financial opportunities for marginalized communities and by recycling waste fabrics into beautifully crafted products.
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Title : दुपटे (the baby quilt)
Size: 80 x 80 cm
Medium: Hand-quilted layers of fabric, threads, fabric color and a light box
Year: 2018
दुपटे (dupate) is the traditional Maharashtrian hand stitched baby quilt. One day at Quilt Culture, we were generally discussing about siblings. She told about her six dead born sisters and the practice of female feticide in her neighborhood. Shaken to the core, I asked her why isn’t she blaming her parents for it.. “How could I complain, when I am alive? Six of my sisters didn’t make it out of the womb” she said it and continue making baby quilt.. दुपटे ... .
Size: 80 x 80 cm
Medium: Hand-quilted layers of fabric, threads, fabric color and a light box
Year: 2018
दुपटे (dupate) is the traditional Maharashtrian hand stitched baby quilt. One day at Quilt Culture, we were generally discussing about siblings. She told about her six dead born sisters and the practice of female feticide in her neighborhood. Shaken to the core, I asked her why isn’t she blaming her parents for it.. “How could I complain, when I am alive? Six of my sisters didn’t make it out of the womb” she said it and continue making baby quilt.. दुपटे ... .
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Title- The FEEL matters
Size- 30 x40 x45 inch
Medium: Hand- quilted layers of Fabric, threads, Needles carved in wood
Year: 2018
When everything seems to be changing, it becomes increasingly important to know what endures.
Will shared resources always be misused and overused? Is community ownership of land, forests and fisheries a guaranteed road to ecological disaster? Is privatization the only way to protect the environment and end Third World poverty? The author of “The Tragedy of the Commons” was Garrett Hardin, in his 1968 essay argued that communities that share resources inevitably pave the way for their own destruction; instead of wealth for all, there is wealth for none.
Seeing the theory of ‘tragedy of commons’ as a metaphor to the impact of capitalist tendencies since the 1990s in India. The growing “new economy” movement that points out that our current form of capitalism, which puts the pursuit of success and profit as top priorities, is not only leading to unprecedented environmental destruction but is also increasing social inequality. Where consumerist idea of comfort rendered with endless possibilities of luxury hides the dark lining of maltreating the natural and human resources.
The installation ‘The FEEL matters’ aims to dissect that idea of comfort and luxury, which builds upon the social unjust, yet inevitably constitutes the material need of everyday life. Here, the attempt is to address the helplessness of the Middle class, where the organic sustainable products are expensive to afford and unethically mass manufactured consumer goods remain the only possible option. The spiked quilt pierced the idea of comfort and red border symbolizes the darker side of capitalist manufacturing.
I buy and I buy
My blanket smells of sweat, but it's not me
I lost the sense of smell to a bargain for the Dream
Which neither I paint, nor I sell
Size- 30 x40 x45 inch
Medium: Hand- quilted layers of Fabric, threads, Needles carved in wood
Year: 2018
When everything seems to be changing, it becomes increasingly important to know what endures.
Will shared resources always be misused and overused? Is community ownership of land, forests and fisheries a guaranteed road to ecological disaster? Is privatization the only way to protect the environment and end Third World poverty? The author of “The Tragedy of the Commons” was Garrett Hardin, in his 1968 essay argued that communities that share resources inevitably pave the way for their own destruction; instead of wealth for all, there is wealth for none.
Seeing the theory of ‘tragedy of commons’ as a metaphor to the impact of capitalist tendencies since the 1990s in India. The growing “new economy” movement that points out that our current form of capitalism, which puts the pursuit of success and profit as top priorities, is not only leading to unprecedented environmental destruction but is also increasing social inequality. Where consumerist idea of comfort rendered with endless possibilities of luxury hides the dark lining of maltreating the natural and human resources.
The installation ‘The FEEL matters’ aims to dissect that idea of comfort and luxury, which builds upon the social unjust, yet inevitably constitutes the material need of everyday life. Here, the attempt is to address the helplessness of the Middle class, where the organic sustainable products are expensive to afford and unethically mass manufactured consumer goods remain the only possible option. The spiked quilt pierced the idea of comfort and red border symbolizes the darker side of capitalist manufacturing.
I buy and I buy
My blanket smells of sweat, but it's not me
I lost the sense of smell to a bargain for the Dream
Which neither I paint, nor I sell
Title : Reading between the lines
Medium: Hand-quilted layers of fabric, threads on canvas
Size: 45 x 90 x 35 cm
Year: 2018
India’s economic liberalization in July 1991, a report in Fortune magazine announced that the country’s attempt to enter the global economy offered ample ‘opportunities’, especially ‘the chance to sell to India’s huge middle class’ whose expansion, it claimed, was more rapid than that of other sections of the population (Jacob 1992:20).
The effect of economic liberalization on the material culture is quite evident not only in terms of changing material culture, but also in the shift to socialization of consumerism from the post- independence Indian identity, which has been closely linked to practices that are anti-consumerist. Such socialization includes the roles of highlighting consumption needs, associating rituals with consumption, introducing markers of distinction attached to the consumption of certain products, and breaking down existing barriers to consumption.
The research during the establishment of financial opportunities for women at Quilt Culture, led me to the intricate inquiry on the changing consumer culture in India, since the economic liberalization. The work ‘Reading between the lines’ maps the transition in the material culture of much celebrated Indian middle class. The usage of green up-cycled quilted fabric to write NEED and flowing red threads interpreting DESIRE holds its symbolism of the environmental impact of overwhelming consumerism.
Medium: Hand-quilted layers of fabric, threads on canvas
Size: 45 x 90 x 35 cm
Year: 2018
India’s economic liberalization in July 1991, a report in Fortune magazine announced that the country’s attempt to enter the global economy offered ample ‘opportunities’, especially ‘the chance to sell to India’s huge middle class’ whose expansion, it claimed, was more rapid than that of other sections of the population (Jacob 1992:20).
The effect of economic liberalization on the material culture is quite evident not only in terms of changing material culture, but also in the shift to socialization of consumerism from the post- independence Indian identity, which has been closely linked to practices that are anti-consumerist. Such socialization includes the roles of highlighting consumption needs, associating rituals with consumption, introducing markers of distinction attached to the consumption of certain products, and breaking down existing barriers to consumption.
The research during the establishment of financial opportunities for women at Quilt Culture, led me to the intricate inquiry on the changing consumer culture in India, since the economic liberalization. The work ‘Reading between the lines’ maps the transition in the material culture of much celebrated Indian middle class. The usage of green up-cycled quilted fabric to write NEED and flowing red threads interpreting DESIRE holds its symbolism of the environmental impact of overwhelming consumerism.
Title: Beyond Quilting
Size: 45 x 30 cm
Medium: Hand-quilted layers of fabric, thread and fabric colour
Year: 2018
The etymological journey of Art, since 18th century European distinctions and hierarchies among art forms, also reflected on the Indian understanding of Kala during colonial period. R.N Mishra’s article “Ancient Indian Artists: Organizations in Lieu of Guilds,” (India art history changing perspective, 2011, pp 104) points to the blurred boundaries between the artist and craftsman in ancient and medieval India. The colonial history of India impacted not only the ‘form of art’, but also ‘concept of ART itself’.
The name for any art or craft is Silpa or Shilpa. The meanings for these words are 'Multi-colored' and comprise art, skill, craft, labor, ingenuity, rite and ritual, form and creation. Neither the word 'artist', nor 'craftsman', nor 'artisan' is an adequate translation of 'Silpin' (creator of Silpa). The number of arts is unlimited, but they are summed up under 64 headings. These 64 techniques are called Kala (कला).
(Stella Kramrich 1958:224)
Decolonisation of Art is not just about bringing minority texts, but also how we read traditional texts. It is an attempt to understand the broader concept of Kala beyond the art and craft classification of 18th century Europe and its impact on colonised countries.
Understanding language as the earliest means of colonization, I write the word कला (Kala) in devnagari script of Sanskrit language. Suci-vyay-karma (the art of needle work or sewing) is one of the 64 Kala mentioned in Vatsayana’s Kamasutra. Using hand quilted fabric patches to write कला (Kala) is to symbolize the inclusion of craft in the ancient Indian aesthetical concept for art. The run stitch of godhadi is bordered with colonial form of embroidery-cross stitch, where the juxtaposition signifies the the perspectival shift in Kala (कला) towards Art in colonial and post-colonial period.
Size: 45 x 30 cm
Medium: Hand-quilted layers of fabric, thread and fabric colour
Year: 2018
The etymological journey of Art, since 18th century European distinctions and hierarchies among art forms, also reflected on the Indian understanding of Kala during colonial period. R.N Mishra’s article “Ancient Indian Artists: Organizations in Lieu of Guilds,” (India art history changing perspective, 2011, pp 104) points to the blurred boundaries between the artist and craftsman in ancient and medieval India. The colonial history of India impacted not only the ‘form of art’, but also ‘concept of ART itself’.
The name for any art or craft is Silpa or Shilpa. The meanings for these words are 'Multi-colored' and comprise art, skill, craft, labor, ingenuity, rite and ritual, form and creation. Neither the word 'artist', nor 'craftsman', nor 'artisan' is an adequate translation of 'Silpin' (creator of Silpa). The number of arts is unlimited, but they are summed up under 64 headings. These 64 techniques are called Kala (कला).
(Stella Kramrich 1958:224)
Decolonisation of Art is not just about bringing minority texts, but also how we read traditional texts. It is an attempt to understand the broader concept of Kala beyond the art and craft classification of 18th century Europe and its impact on colonised countries.
Understanding language as the earliest means of colonization, I write the word कला (Kala) in devnagari script of Sanskrit language. Suci-vyay-karma (the art of needle work or sewing) is one of the 64 Kala mentioned in Vatsayana’s Kamasutra. Using hand quilted fabric patches to write कला (Kala) is to symbolize the inclusion of craft in the ancient Indian aesthetical concept for art. The run stitch of godhadi is bordered with colonial form of embroidery-cross stitch, where the juxtaposition signifies the the perspectival shift in Kala (कला) towards Art in colonial and post-colonial period.
Title: ’The Balancing Act’
Medium: Ink drawing on paper, handmade quilt with the serigraphic images and a video of a girl walking on a rope.
Size: Variable
Date: May 2017
The baggage of gender propriety based on traditional norms is one of the main factors that have facilitated the subjugation of women in India. In fact many women acquiesce to such a patriarchal system, thinking it’s a cultural obligation. “Most Indian women traditional pulls remain unabated. For working women, family priorities are expected to prevail over work,” said the study.
The audio-visual installation ‘The balancing Act’ is an interpretation of the struggle of these women within their social confinements and the pressure of the economic responsibilities, while neglecting their aspirations, hobbies or even simply their health. Realizing and developing an identity in the circumstances where they are conditioned not to have an opinion, is a difficult walk. ‘The balancing act’ is a tribute to such women who are struggling between their aspirations and confinements.
The handmade quilt is made up of fabric donated by each woman working at Quilt Culture. The photographs of them, doing multiple roles in a day are serigraph on fabric. The juxtaposition of the drawing, quilt and the video reflects upon their pressure and success of juggling with several responsibilities.
We have made sure SHE follows this way,
The hollow pedestal is quite high
Falling is not an option!
Medium: Ink drawing on paper, handmade quilt with the serigraphic images and a video of a girl walking on a rope.
Size: Variable
Date: May 2017
The baggage of gender propriety based on traditional norms is one of the main factors that have facilitated the subjugation of women in India. In fact many women acquiesce to such a patriarchal system, thinking it’s a cultural obligation. “Most Indian women traditional pulls remain unabated. For working women, family priorities are expected to prevail over work,” said the study.
The audio-visual installation ‘The balancing Act’ is an interpretation of the struggle of these women within their social confinements and the pressure of the economic responsibilities, while neglecting their aspirations, hobbies or even simply their health. Realizing and developing an identity in the circumstances where they are conditioned not to have an opinion, is a difficult walk. ‘The balancing act’ is a tribute to such women who are struggling between their aspirations and confinements.
The handmade quilt is made up of fabric donated by each woman working at Quilt Culture. The photographs of them, doing multiple roles in a day are serigraph on fabric. The juxtaposition of the drawing, quilt and the video reflects upon their pressure and success of juggling with several responsibilities.
We have made sure SHE follows this way,
The hollow pedestal is quite high
Falling is not an option!
