The Quilt : A Godari

“The Quilt” is inspired by the idea of creating a large quilt using old cotton fabrics softened over time with use, sarees of my grandmother which she used to cut into pieces and hand-stitched together; to increase the thickness of the quilt she would use number of sarees. The sustainable living was always part of our house hold and her personality. How to use old things and make them reusable with lot of love and emotions. I am brought up in India and there are some family teachings and traditions which have been part of my personality for example minimalistic living, how to be environmental friendly, minimum use of plastic, how to channelize the food waste and how to reuse old clothes etc. Though my approach towards art is contemporary but some inbuilt rooted thoughts are always aligned with the new thoughts or concept. My approach towards art has changed after pandemic and I started thinking of incorporating sustainable materials, like natural pigments, waste canvases and papers, natural glue in my artworks. “The Quilt” is a large installation made from hundreds of small artworks which are hand stitched together and converted into one piece. The size of the work is 200 x 200 cm and It took around 200 + man hours to complete the whole work. The concept of each small work is inspired by my connections with this place, people, landscape, human gestures, different natural textures which we find on the walls of old houses of UAE, texture of coral, pearls, sand, formation and deformation of sand dunes, grains such as rice which is commonly consumed by the local people, the brightness of the sun and the colors which I have been observing and feel those belong to UAE since eleven years when 1st came to Dubai.