E-Paper
Versatility of fibres and textiles come alive through art
Works of eight artists explore techniques such as knitting, embroidery, stitching, crochet, pasting and others, at an ongoing show in Delhi.
Here’s an art show that explores the aesthetic versatility of fibres and textiles through art. Titled Fibre of Our Lives, the exhibition curated by Pranamita Borgohain, has eight artists use threads, wool, beads and fabric using techniques like knitting, embroidery, stitching, crochet, pasting and many other ways. The participating artists include Ankon Mitra, Gopika Nath, Jagannath Panda, Paula Sengupta, Pranati Panda, Puneet Kaushik, Rahul Jain and Gunjan Arora, and Subodh Kerkar.
Artist Pranati Panda works with a composed blend of watercolours, ink and thread, which is an amalgamation of multi-techniques – drawing, collage and embroidery. “For me working with textiles and stitching is a process of marking the progression of time. Hand stitching is a time based medium and each stitched line is deliberate and act as the lines of conversation between my hand and my mind. My works make me think and allow me to mediate. I realised my hand stitching brings the calmness to my life each time I stitch. My forms are simple and fragile characterize the threads of our life and relationship,” says Panda.
A trained architect, artist Ankon Mitra explores the conjunction of origami and architecture and has come up with his invention of Oritecture, an imaginative exercise in blurring the boundaries between craft and engineering. “I create surfaces where the same folded pattern repeats itself and the surface itself twists into hyperbolic and parabolic geometry generating complex installations. I started with paper and moved on to experimenting different materials. For this exhibition my work titled Vishisth-Adwaita Yakshagana, I juxtaposed the warp and weft of textile with the mountains and valleys of paper folding, fusing the two together. Just as the duality of Purusha and Prakriti unite to create Adwaita, that is, oneness,” says Mitra.
“For this exhibition I got in some of the best contemporary artists along with a designer duo Gunjan Arora and Rahul Jain; who work with textile waste and an architect Ankon Mitra to make it an interesting amalgamation of creative people along with other artists,” says Pranamita Borgohain, curator, adding, “I also got in artists like Jagannath Panda, one of India’s well known contemporary artists who uses fabric as a metaphor in reference to the cultural space. He usually collects these fabrics from different places and of different cultures. And I got in Gopika Nath’s recent series Thought-Nets, as they seem very fragile and meditative and something which she worked during the lockdown to deal with the stress of that moment which I thought would be very relevant to our current situation. We also have noted artist Pranati Panda whose works I find very simple and fragile and characterize the vulnerability of our lives and relationships which is very true.”
Catch It Live What: Fibre of Our Lives Where: Gallery Art Positive, F213/B, Old MB Road, Lado Sarai On till: April 5 Timing: 11am to 7pm Nearest Metro Station: Saket on the Yellow Line
Author tweets @Nainaarora8
