texile/mixed media
‘dark, golden, hairy, roots’(2023)
Iron, tumeric dyed unbleached Khadi cotton, madder, marigold, cutch, nutmeg, cinnamon dyed thread.
Shown at Khari Bouli market in Old Delhi - the biggest spice market in the world. Prompted by Amitav Ghoshs “The Nutmeg Curse’. Spice plants like Peppercorn, Cinammon, Clove, Nutmneg and Turmeric collide in a depicted hybrid of South Asian and South-East Asian lands extracted at the hands of western imperialism and extraction starting 300 years ago. Taking inspiration from Kalamkaris or Pre-colonial chintzes with dark, rich backrounds and Pichwai tapestries I collaborated with embroiders in jaipur to conjure a tapestery made from Khadi (hand-spun cotton) dyed with iron, hardar (turmeric), dalacheenee/taja (cinnamon) and jayaphala (nutmeg) ground into dye baths with cutch, maridold and madder roots symbolic of the intersections that both spice and cloth had on british colonial thirst and western taste. Brass casted whole spices are embroidered on adding weight to the piece signifying the once releative value of spices compared to gold.
jewellery/textiles
‘Gold Stain’
2019
My take on a Gold Chain and a comment on the sometimes, overly refined world of contemporary jewellery.
Recycled T-shirt, Turmeric