Dhotian, 2020
Digital mockup of woven samples
Samples woven from: handspun silk mill waste, handspun eri and muga silk, handspun cotton from factory surplus, silk mill surplus, purchased tussah silk and hemp, purchased mercerised cotton (dyed + handpainted) in the warp
The body is a partner in knowledge-seeking, 2020
I compile and reflect on things made for a Work-in-Progress show at the Royal College of Art.
The loom knows me very well, 2020
Woven details, factory surplus cotton - unspun and handspun
From September - December 2020, I work steadily on a 24-shaft electronic ARM loom. It is important to me to build technical expertise in weave structures, and through sourcing cotton from Karachi, these abstractions are not devoid of meaning. I am reminded constantly of the behemoth cotton piles I witnessed in a cotton factory on the outskirts of Karachi in September 2020 - to me, sculptures in their own right. As I spin and weave the cotton, I think a lot about how to engage with modern-day industrial realities of cotton as well as its colonial history. The visit to the factory yields ‘new’ colonial structures as well, as factory workers have been brought from their villages and towns to live in literal, so-called “colonies” on the factory compound. I am complicit in these via my voyeuristic snapshots in lieu of other action, my consumption of fast fashion and the very fact of my elite school-based association with the factory owner. The simple daily ministrations of the loom keep my hands alive and my mind at bay and I wonder if this is a credible way to learn about history.
Nooriabad Cotton 1, 2020
Digital image
Nooriabad Cotton 2, 2020
Digital image
I do not pre-design the textiles, trusting to let their patterns and structures emerge, examining them closely only after. When the period of relentless making draws to a close, I don’t cut them immediately into samples as intended but give them a first iteration as dhotis - a loving ode to uncut, premodern, ungendered attire of the subcontinent.
Dhoti 2 (detail), 2020
Handspun silk waste, handspun eri silk, handspun factory surplus cotton, silk mill surplus yarn, tussah silk, hemp, mercerised cotton
Returning daily to the loom is akin to the daily arrival in the body I have been undertaking with Suhaee. I am now increasingly drawing parallels between both kinds of work, particularly in how they allow insight to arise via a series of diligent technical exercises. We explore the principles of Nritta movement in Bharatanatyam, the aspect that is concerned not with storytelling or drama (Nritya), but with the technical perfection of ‘pure’ or ‘abstract’ dance. Can technical abstractions be a vehicle for insight?
Technical notes, 2020
Scanned sketchbook pages
Hour 141 with Suhaee: ‘Beginner’s Adavu’, 2021
Moving image
Is this “thickening relationality”? To further probe the idea I decide that a good next step is a residency in Karachi, my hometown, to build a loom. This will be an attempt to investigate my personal history and subcontinental socio-economic ‘happenings’ -- and to interrogate this bodily experience from the inside.
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References
Haraway, Donna, & Endy, Drew, Tools for Multispecies Futures, Journal of Design and Science, (2019), Link.