A Utopia Not So Far

Review

Inquiring into the historical salt march of 1930 and the near extinct Azrakh traditions, artist and textile designer Shelly Jyoti weaves a fabric using socio-economic and cultural threads of Gandhian philosophies in her installation works, reviews Nisha Aggarwal.

The solo show of Shelly Jyoti's new works titled 'Salt: The Great March: Re-contextualing Azrakh Traditions in Contemporary Art and Craft' was a thought-provoking, visual and aesthetical experience. The show was on view from 28th September to 20th October, 2013 at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi. Shelly is an India-based textile designer, a literature graduate and a visual artist by choice. She investigates and revisits the areas of nationalism, history, gender, textile and visual arts by presenting her art works in a socio-economic and cultural context of India. The solo includes a set of four installations, 25 Azrakh prints on khadi cloth taking 12 different Azrakh design references, multimedia spoken poetry followed by a slide presentation, which includes her last two and half years consistent efforts.

Art Works from the Show 'Salt: The Great March'

'Salt: The Great March' is a complementary continuation of Shelly's earlier series 'Indigo', where she traces the colonial exploitation of Indigo farmers and craftsmen by the British. Shelly has been working with textile workers and traditional crafts women and in 2009, it led her to Bhuj, Gujarat to work with 9th and 10th generations of Azrakh artisans who migrated to India in the early 17th century from Sindh and Baluchistan and settled in north-west Gujarat. She began her journey for Salt by reading Mark Kurlansky's 'Salt: A World History' and then proceeded with a deeper inquiry into Mahatma Gandhi's historical Salt March.

Mahatma Gandhi's Salt March known as Salt Satyagraha, began from Gandhi's Sabarmati's Ashram near Ahmedabad, to the sea coast near the village of Dandi in 1930. Supported by growing numbers of Indians, this 240-miles march to access salt without paying taxes, took 24 days and was a direct non-violent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India.

Shelly tried to retrace Gandhi's footsteps after 87 years of the march by applying the Gandhian philosophy in contemporary India through her art works. Stories of Salt, Indigo and Khadi in India's history are entwined with the non-violent rebellion against colonial forces for Swaraj.

With Salt, Shelly shows Indigo and Khadi as materials formed by a sense of responsibility of an artist to preserve, use and elevate selfhood, and to spread awareness about 'swadeshi' and to rekindle a sense of 'swadharma' and 'sarvodaya' philosophies. Apart from exploring the application of these Gandhian philosophies in today's world, her research in Azrakh printing and dyeing techniques on khadi and quilting was an extended exploration to convert printing and dyeing techniques into art works.

Installation by Shelly Jyoti

The installations made up of Salt, 50,000 threads from 50 attis produced by the weavers, 8 ply Khadi clothes printed with Sanskrit Calligraphy, chenille pipe cleaners, fabric and threads were a metaphoric representation of the 'Khadi spirit' of India and different communities living harmoniously in a united nation. The Khadi cloth, threads and attis, the spinning yarn and charkha metaphorically speak of the need for action and commitment towards the use of Swadeshi, where the society still lives in the post-colonial era of western influences. Shelly has woven a dream of a Gandhian 'Utopia' where the India is a united and independent nation through the empowerment of its socio-economic, cultural, feminine and peripheral energies.

Originally Published in Art&Deal Magazine, Issue:65/Vol.9, No.34/November 2013