Fibre optics

When Saloni Doshi a 44yearold firstgeneration collector and patron began acquiring textiles and fibrebased art in her 20smdashstarting with Raja Ravi Varma oleographs for her homesmdashshe had certain advantages money time and a family with generational ownership of artificial silk millsldquoMy first introduction to textiles came from my mother Saroj Doshi and her love for handwoven sarees Whenever I travelled across India for work or social events shersquod ask for specific sarees like Kanchipuram silksrdquo she recalls This early exposure honed Doshirsquos discerning eye for patterns and borders ldquoIn the process I began buying for myself as wellrdquo she addsRanjith Raman translates instinctive ideas into tactile forms using cotton silk threads glass beads and hand embroidery giving abstract concepts tangible expression in Reminiscence of a Celestial AffairHer connection deepened further through her grandfather Manilal Sunderji Doshi who owned Mumbairsquos oldest artificial silks mills Bharat and BMK and led Sasmira Textiles ldquoReviving this part of my history helped me understand my passion for textilesrdquo she saysIn the early 2000s Doshi had her first brush with the art world during an 11month stint at Osians a leading auction house at the time There her appreciation for visual arts expanded leading to the creation of the Saloni Doshi Collection SDC which now includes over 800 contemporary artworks from India and South Asia across various visual genresSharan Apparao and Saloni DoshiIn 2009 Doshi established Space 118 in Mazgaon a historic warehouse district in Mumbai to support an emerging artistic community in need of studios and residences The Lshaped campus with five studio spaces hosted the fine art photography series The Right to Look I and II in November 2023 and March 2024 ldquoHaving trained as a photographer and filmmaker under Jeroo Mulla at Sophia college I wanted to start with photography a medium few people were buyingrdquo she recalls ldquoWe were astonished by the response It was incredible to see how eager people were to embrace and buy something so uniquerdquoSpace 118 now serves as the backdrop for The Woven Path an exhibition of textiles and fibrebased art from SDC on view from November 14 to December 21Jayeeta Chatterjeersquos The Story is True 1 a cotton Pochampally handloom weave with silk screenprint explores the lives of middleclass women transforming everyday moments of reflection and domesticity into artistic expressionTherersquos something immediate and personal about artists using traditional materials to tell modern stories especially when the living artists themselves may attend the exhibition The slow meticulous creation of each textile piecemdashshaped by hand over hundreds of hoursmdashoffers a counterpoint to our fastpaced imagesaturated lives providing stillness in a world of choppy visual messagesCurated by Sharan Apparao the exhibition unfolds across five studios revealing textiles and fibrebased works of art as powerful expressive mediums These works are made all the more compelling by their ubiquity and their ability to speak to the geopolitics of cloth During a preview walkthrough with midday a casually dressed Doshi spots a stray thread on one of the collage works and promptly directs her team to fix itArshi Ahmadzairsquos Alkhansa aur ret ke hazaar zarro ko paani me pirona features a handpainted faceless figure on a large scroll symbolising womenrsquos anonymity and their shared experiences of suppression The surrounding text evokes storytelling grounding the piece in cultural and historical narratives surrounding identity and freedomOver a month of video calls and inperson meetings the Chennaibased gallerist and curator worked closely with Doshi to refine the collection identifying a common theme that intertwines both the literal and metaphorical journey of a cotton seedThis journey symbolises not only the birth and evolution of an idea but also prompts cottonrsquos ancient and fundamental role in human society and its place in myth ldquoCotton from thread to garment was first fashioned for the divine and later adapted by humans India with its rich diversity of craft clusters has nurtured wool cotton and silk Itrsquos only natural that contemporary artists turn to fibre and textilesrdquo Apparao explains The exhibition follows this progression moving from raw inspirationmdashmuch like a cotton seedmdashto human influence and from abstraction toward clarity and purpose Divided into thematic sectionsmdashThe Source Crystallisation Alchemy Transformation and Realisationmdasheach stage builds upon the previous mirroring both natural processes and human interventionThe daring integration of 16 heritage textiles such as Tangail Dhakai Jamdani and Banaras silks and Kutchi embroidery pieces with 64 contemporary works by 22 artistsmdashincluding Anju Dodiya Abraham amp Thakore Deena Pindoria Varunika Saraf Parul Thacker Mohan Prajapat Sabiha Dohadwala Riddhi Patel Mithun Das Amjum Rizve Neda Razavipour Sriparna Dutta and Viraj Khannamdashcontrasts classical and modern narratives While blurring the boundaries of ldquofine artrdquo and ldquocraftrdquo their works also nudges us to reconsider the scope of what art can be ldquoTextile too can be artmdashif you appreciate itrdquo Doshi reflectsldquoBy pushing the boundaries of contemporary textilebased art we hope to challenge perceptions of ancient craft in Indiardquo adds Apparao a selfconfessed textiles connoisseur who as a young student worked with the Crafts Council of India over three decades agoldquoPatrons like Saloni Lavina Baldota and Lekha Poddar who collect textile and fibre art with focus and perspective are inspiring other collectorsrdquo Apparao says ldquoI see this movement gaining momentum Itrsquos still in its infancy but itrsquos not just going to spiralmdashit will snowballrdquo