Artist Shelly Jyoti’s works are centred on historical iconographic elements within the cultural context of Indian history. Through her latest show The Khadi March: Just Five Metres, she tries to invoke swadharma — Gandhiji’s core mantra. By Saritha Saraswathy Balan
Stepping into the portals of The Khadi March: Just Five Metres, one is transported back to the Gandhian era when khadi symbolised integrity and self-realization. Artist, curator and fashion designer Shelly Jyoti has spun out her version of Gandhiji’s call for Swadharm’ — one that epitomizes your duty towards the nation through your action.
Swadharma is the leitmotif of her show. She explores and constructs hermeneutics of the various historic periods and incorporates contemporary representation of socio-political inquiry within her art practice. Each of her works are like brief but fascinating historical chapters in their own right.
She has created a headgear of sorts –an innate entity in most Indian communities. “In the course of establishing its formal relationship with the Indian empire, Britain had established elaborate rules for the different kinds of headdress its colonial servants in the military and those from among the civilians should wear. The government devoted a lot of attention in procuring dresses for its civil and military servants,” she elaborates. Her works are shaped by her deep perspective of history.
She hails the Gandhi Topi as an ‘invented tradition’, one that is distinctive from traditional headgears typically worn by various native groups, and those prescribed by government dress codes in British India.
While asked why she chose Khadi, Shelly says that a revival of hard-spinning and hand- weaving will mark the largest chunk of contribution to the economic and moral rejuvenation of the country as a whole. The works seem to originate from the nation’s historical and cultural roots, while she tries to narrate how ‘dress’ became a visual symbol in Gandhiji’s fight against the British. She explains: “He looked at many cap-designs, keeping in mind its comfort and wearable aspects, rejected a whole lot of them, before finding solace in the Kashmiri style. The khaki cap, as Tarlo points out, eventually provided a visual uniformity, which had never existed in Indian headgear. It visually signals one’s allegiances.”
Her passion for Gandhian thoughts led her to do research on Bapu at length. “When I ask the youth what do you do on your parents’ birthdays, they say they give gifts. What about August 15 or Gandhi JayantiIJ This is where the need to evoke the sense of duty towards the nation -swadharma- arises. In today’s urban life, we seem to have lost our values”, she feels.
The exhibition was inaugurated by none other than Tara Gandhi –the Mahatma’s granddaughter- and is on at the Visual Arts Gallery of the India Habitat Centre, till 26 October. Tara Gandhi dwelt on the charkha and its relevance as a tool of non-violence and swadharma in her inaugural address.
The show features textile works that explore two key questions: Can the idea of swadharma be an important thread that could wrought a positive change in societyIJ How can textiles -both as a material object and an art- bring urban communities to feel responsible towards their rural brethren, by honouring the work of the traditional weaversIJ The title of the show -avers Shelly- is gender specific: “It takes 2.5 metres of cloth to stitch a trouser and the same length is needed for a shirt too. A saree too is normally five metres in length.”
The different contemporary silhouettes reflect the influence of the Moghul period -historically known as the Angrakha and the Jama. The 2D garment artwork is contemporary in its structure, while the silhouette has a breast fit and is loose around the body.
The very purpose of creating such classic contemporary silhouettes is to document Azrakh patterns and styles that have been worn by the women of India in the 21st century.
There are silhouettes of upper bodywear (blouses) worn by contemporary women in India. This 2D artwork representation of different traditional blouses comes with Ajrakh patterns documenting the blocks used by Ajarkh printers of Ajrakpur in Bhuj, Gujarat.
Some of the blocks used in these artworks are ancient 4500-year old patterns and a few others have a 400-year old one. “These are all part of our history,” she remarks. There is also an installation ‘The Yarn Spring’ in which she explores the role of clothing as a catalyst of social change. The installation is made of 1000 raw cotton yarn bunches of handspun thread, capturing the meditative quality of hand-spun yarn, in stark contrast to machine-made threads.
In ‘Flag series,’ Shelly examines different iconographies of the wheel or charka. Symbols work well, only if they rely on existing iconographies. The series is an attempt to project the ‘wheel of swadhrama’ as a symbol of the 21st century by juxtaposing it with other symbols of the charka from the past. Shelly has also created her own version of the ‘Magic’ lantern presentation -popularized during the nationalist period- through 143 lines of poetry -Just 5 meters: An Urban Appeal- using modern technology.