European digital art finds new form in traditional embroidery at textile event

An exhibition opened in the city on Saturday showcasing a unique fusion of European digital coding and traditional Sindhi embroidery and Kutch thread work, highlighting a cross-continental collaboration between a technology-driven artist and women artisans from local communities.

For decades, the 44-year-old Chinta Devi had worked with thread – Sindhi stitches, Kutch patterns, familiar rhythms learned and relearned after she migrated from Bihar nearly three decades ago. But her latest project is different, she said. She was given digitally coded patterns, and was handed a new medium for embroidery – mirror work. “Initially, I was anxious because while I knew many stitching techniques… but the mirror work – the highlight of this exhibition – was something I had never done before,” she said. “It was really refreshing to learn.”

Embroidery products displayed at the event (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

That leap into the unknown now hangs on the walls of a gallery in south Delhi.

An exhibition opened in the city on Saturday showcasing a unique fusion of European digital coding and traditional Sindhi embroidery and Kutch thread work, highlighting a cross-continental collaboration between a technology-driven artist and women artisans from local communities.

Titled “RITES”, the display features 23 fabric panels created by Europe-based digital artist Alida Sun and embroidered by women weavers associated with the Swami Sivananda Memorial Institute in Punjabi Bagh. The exhibition, featuring fractal designs that were “coded” by Sun and then embroidered by Indian women weavers, will run at the Method Gallery in Defence Colony from January 31 to March 15.

“In today’s time, technology is often feared, especially because we think it will devalue human labour. But this only keeps us away from using it as a tool for creative expression and collaborative artwork that brings communities together. For me it’s an exciting medium for more immersive creative experience and a subtle way of showing solidarity,” said Sun, who has been coding art for seven years. While technology and textile form the main theme of the art, it also celebrates women’s shared passion for creation despite geographical divides, she said.

Sun digitally designed geometric patterns that were then printed on fabric. Artisans filled the designs with intricate mirror work and traditional stitches such as Sindhi embroidery and Kutch thread work – techniques not commonly employed in their usual projects.

The exhibition also highlights the women artisans working in Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh-based Swami Sivananda Memorial Institute. For 38-year-old Harendra Tiwari, who manages the institute’s operations and has been a bridge between the art gallery director Sahil Arora and a seven-member team of women artists, the collaboration has been empowering.

“While people wear fabrics embroidered by these women artisans, there’s always a gap between the maker and the market. So, an artwork like this, not just brings their work in limelight, but also empowers them,” said Tiwari.

Trainer and project coordinator Suman Barua, 45, noted that while the digital print provided the blueprint, the execution was left largely to their creativity. “We got the digital fabric print which was full of designs with shapes like heart, star, square, and diagonal which was supposed to be filled with mirrors. Apart from the mirror work, everything else was completely up to us… It gave us freedom to experiment,” she said.

Sun said the emphasis on mirrors aimed to bring a visual balance between her digitally lit artwork and physically decorated textile panels. Apart from establishing a connection between digital and physical artwork, the mirror’s reflective property gives a more personal feel to the viewer, she explained.