10 Dec Journeys in Print: Travelling Patterns
By V. GeethaTravelling Patterns is the latest in a line of books that engage with textiles and textile art. It is a unique visual assemblage—in which pattern-making travels from textile to paper, from the decorative to the narrative, and from one context to another.
19 Jul The Cloth of the Mother Goddess
Exquisite hand block printed textile book in the form of a cloth shrine.
19 Jul The Great Race
Indonesian trickster tale featuring Kanchil the mouse deer, illustrated in the Mata-Ni-Pachedi style from Gujarat.
14 Feb The Cloth of the Mother Goddess – From Ritual Art to Cloth Book
By Gita WolfThe connection of skill and labour to art making has always interested us. We’re curious not only about the aesthetic and philosophical aspects of traditional art, but equally in its connection to artisanal practices, the craft that goes into giving it a physical form. In the case of Mata-Ni-Pachedi, this involves painting, block-printing and dyeing techniques which are painstaking, requiring skill and experience. This kind of artisanal knowledge is profound and priceless, but it is not valued highly, and seen more as a sequence of repetitive tasks learned through apprenticeship. Instead of holding artisanal practices against the mirror of industrial manufacture — or seeing them as distinct from art-making — we’d like to connect them intrinsically to the creative process.