Lakshmi Madhavan is a conceptual artist who works between Mumbai and
Balaramapuram, where her textile based kasavu (traditional textile of Kerala)
works have emerged from. Her works are collaboratively developed with the
weaving community of Balaramapuram, one of the oldest and original
handloom weaving centers of the kasavu.
She has been working with this 200-year-old craft tradition attempting to
reimagine the boundaries between art and craft, high and low art, domestic
and public realms, feminine and masculine impulses and instead focus on the
depth and the nuances of a complex, expressive practice. Lakshmi is also
engaged in community led interventions extending towards reimagining the
future of the craft, technological innovations and research and documentation
initiatives.
Lakshmi has previously worked with the International Artists Collective, a
studio and gallery in Copenhagen. She has trained with the German artist,
Bernhard Martin at the Summer Academy in Salzburg. She is also mentored by
the Indian contemporary artist, Jitish Kallat in Mumbai. She assisted him with
the production and planning of his first career retrospective “Here After Here”
at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
Lakshmi recently concluded her first solo showing at Akara Contemporary,
Mumbai, and her US debut at Rajiv Menon Contemporar in Los Angeles. She
was the artist in residence at the 2023 India Art Fair, Delhi and other
exhibitions include showings at the NGMA (Mumbai), National Museum
(Delhi), Melbourne Museum (Melbourne), Hampi Art Labs (Vijayanagar), Craft
Museum (Delhi), Kochi Muziris Biennale Collateral (Kochi).
ARTIST STATEMENT
Lakshmi brings forth a layered montage of narratives concerning identity, loss
and restitution in her practice through the traditional weave of kasavu, that is
collaboratively developed with the weaving community at Balaramapuram,
Kerala. She examines complexities that define the politics of cloth and body,
delving into the intersectionality of material, socio-cultural structures and
gender codes.In her work, the body, is traced with craft and cloth, becoming a powerful symbolic surface on which hierarchies are demarcated and even metaphysical commitments to culture are inscribed.
For Lakshmi, the kasavu became an umbilical cord to not only traverse back
home but also to investigate the history and heritage of the cloth. She
attempts to reconfigure the kasavu into a universal cloth, offering the body as
a site of redemption and transformation
EXHIBITIONS/RESIDENCIES
2024: Three Steps of Land, Rajiv Menon Contemporary, Mumbai
2024: Generations in my Body, Akara Contemporary, Mumbai
2024: Fight or Flight, Akara Contemporary, Mumbai
2024: Respond, Sans Sentense, XXL Gallery, Mumbai
2023: Woven Narratives, Hampi Art Labs, Vijaynagar
2023: Hanging by a Thread II, Sutr Santati, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne
2023: Artist in Residence, India Art Fair, Delhi, and
2022: Hanging by a Thread III, Fine Count, Craft Museum, Delhi
2022: Hanging by a Thread II, Sutr Santati, National Museum, Delhi
2022: Hanging by a Thread I, Extremely South, Art District XIII, Delhi
2021: SEE.SAW.SEEN, Kochi Art Week, Kochi, India
2021: Hanging by a Thread (Ammammayude Mundu Veshti, Lokame Tharavadu, Alleppey, India
2019: Solo Exhibition as part of a custom brand collaboration with Rémy Martin, Bungalow 9, Mumbai, India
2018: The Body Dialogues, Kochi Muziris Biennale Collateral, Fort Kochi, India
2018: TIE(D) TIE(S), Kashi Art Residency, Fort Kochi, India
2018: i need some air, Installation at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai, India
2017: What is a Picture? Group Exhibition, International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg, Austria
2017: Transitions Project, a found object collaboration project with artists from across Copenhagen, Canada, Texas, Paris, Switzerland, India
2017: Residency, Summer Academy, Salzburg, Austria
2016: Group Exhibition, International Artists Collective, Copenhagen
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Harper Bazaar, "Telling stories with kasavu" , December 2024
Platform Mag, "Generations in my body- Lakshmi Madhavan", September 2024
Mid-day, "For Granny, with love" , September 2024
The Hindu, "New Delhi | 1,000 ways to oneness at the India Art Fair", Feb 2023
The Hindustan Times, "India Art Fair gives space to diverse art practices", Feb 2023
The Sunday Guardian, "India Art Fair Returns to Delhi",
The Indian Express, "A glimpse into the intersection of technology and art at India Art Fair ", Feb 2023
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The Economic Times, "Indian Art Fair 2023: Art extravaganza showcase intersection of tech and art", Feb 2023
The Ideas Lab, " Recommends-India Art Fair, Feb 2023
The Voice of Fashion, "Lakshmi Madhavan: Telling Personal Stories with the Kasavu", Feb 2023
The Citizen, "An Art Fair To Remember", Feb 2023
The Times of India, "Weaving a new story through Indian textiles", Feb 2023
Firstpost, "What's in store for the Indian Art Fair 2023!", Jan 2023
India Cultural Hub, "India Art Fair-Stand Out Installations", Feb 2023
The Hindu, "The Age of X: How Collaborations are helping brands", Dec 2019
Times of India, "A space for the fearless expression", Dec 2018
Times of India, "Red Parrot, Green Parrot show at Kashi Art Gallery, Kochi, Dec 2018
Times of India, "Exploring culture and identity via coir", April 2018
The Hindu, Priyadershini S,"Fibres of Identity", April 2018
The New Indian Express, Jose Joy, "Knot the Statement", April 2018
Deccan Chronicle, Elizabeth Thomas, "Homecoming via Art"April 2018
Hindustan Times. Razvin Namdarian, "Visual Delight", Feb 2018
Rediff.com, Kala Ghoda, Feb 2018