For Goa-born Mayuri Chali, art is about celebrating women, and her narrations always focus on reality: “real societies, real people, real stories.” For example, her work “My Body, My Freedom,'' created using thread embroidery on fabric, depicts her dialogue with her own body.
Similarly, multimedia artist Ranbir Kareka's 'Guardians of Dystopic Gardens' is made of cotton.
“My Body, My Freedom” and “Guardians in a Dystopic Garden” are contrasting creatives, but both run through a common thread of thought-provoking and visually compelling art created with textiles .
From Aari and Zardozi techniques to satin stitch on hand-woven silk, organza, khadi, jute and linen, phulkari, kacchi embroidery and French knots, works by artists like Chali and Kareka are on display at the recently concluded Indian exhibition it was done.
“The interplay of art and textiles not only elevates the realm of hand embroidery to a true art, but also highlights the genius of India's globally respected embroiderers and embroidery schools.” says Gayatri Khanna, founder of a Mumbai-based embroidery atelier. , Miraaya's recent exhibition 'Threaded Visions: Contemporary Embroidery for a Sustainable Future' was curated by Mumbai-based art curator Arshiya.
“The transformation of hand embroidery, a tradition that is slowly disappearing, into art will make these museum pieces accessible to many and ensure that the craft continues to live on in our collective consciousness.” ,” Khanna adds.
As curator, Lokhandwala has handpicked the most iconic works of masters and contemporary artists such as SH Raza, Ram Kumar, Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh, Nilima Sheikh, KK Hebbar, Ranbir Kaleka, and others to explore issues such as sustainability and climate change. Transformed into a hand-embroidered masterpiece to work on. .
All works reflect an exploration of environmental issues and advocate sustainable practices such as recycling, using renewable fuels, conserving water, and conserving biodiversity in the animal kingdom.
Similarly, Chari uses hand embroidery on fabric to express fantasies connected to the female body. She reclaims the Portuguese tradition of torso stitching, adopted by Goan families during the colonial period, and uses it as a vocabulary of feminist dissent.
The textile artist recently set up a studio space in the village of Anur in rural Kolhapur, Maharashtra, where she spends time with rural women workers in sugarcane fields and explores stories of labor camps. I worked to do this.
“The women use the sari as a wall of privacy while forging friendships with nomadic women, such as Banjara and Dalit tribes, who live in multicultural societies without sanitary facilities,” she says. Chari, who started the program, added: She completed her master's degree from Central University of Hyderabad in 2017.
Now, Chari questions the personal world of her body and realizes that sex and nudity remain taboo in India. She wrote a poem about vaginas and sewed it onto a giant piece of cloth using her portable sewing machine. All these ideas are woven into textiles, made into tarpaulin murals, or in the form of multimedia her documentaries.
While Shalini Passi feels that “slow fashion and craft preservation are the strongest pillars of sustainability,” the intricate pieces not only highlight the richness of embroidery as an art form, but also It celebrates the diverse traditions and techniques of the world.
Similarly, Karishma Swari's Chanakya School of Crafts in Mumbai collaborates with French-Cameroonian painter Barthélémy Toguo and French artist Eva Jospin to create large-scale handcrafted works using various needlepoint techniques. produced interdisciplinary works.
Crafts made from hand-woven silk, organza, khadi, jute and linen are combined with hand-spun yarn and layering techniques, as well as subtle variations on needlepoint techniques such as couching, bullion tying and stem stitching. .
Toguo is working on a five-metre-long embroidery depicting men receiving and offering water in 100 carved bottles filled with water from around the world. Two other embroideries depicting different animals also highlight the use of raw organic threads and fine threads. needle technology. Hand embroidery techniques such as stem stitch, back stitch, and micro French knots are used to create a painterly spread of ink.
“Crafts hold a place of honor in India and have been proven to unite relationships more than the spoken word. We recognize the importance of celebrating communities and their material culture through artistic collaboration. It recognizes gender and emphasizes the essential role that craftsmanship plays in conveying our traditional heritage and our collective identity,” says Swali.
Swari's Chanakya School of Crafts specializes in embroidery and crafts and has already graced international haute couture. The collaboration with French artist Eva Jospin is based on unique drawings depicting landscapes such as architecture, forests, rocks and waterfalls. Swari worked with artisans from the Chanakya School of Crafts for several months to realize this landscape using a modern version of traditional hand embroidery techniques. Using over 150 different embroidery techniques and over 400 shades of organic silk, linen, cotton, and jute thread, we have interpreted the different aspects of this landscape in deep detail and brought them to life.
