Sathya
96 Wooden Shuttles wrapped in thread & human hair
Mobilier National, Paris
Dec 2025
The process of weaving involves the intersection of the vertical yarns or threads on a loom with the horizontal yarns, which are called warp and weft respectively.Shuttles are devices through which the weft yarns are inserted onto a loom in the weaving process, and in the case of hand-weaving this is often done by hand.
In traditional practice, the weaver inhales to draw yarn from the shuttle, rendering breath as the first animated force of production. This installation with shuttles has been re-configured site-specifically for this exhibition, and advances the artist's inquiry into lineage, embodied memory, and intergenerational knowledge, grounded in her long-term association with the community practising the kasavu form of weaving in Balarampuram, in the south-western state of Kerala in India.The original iteration assembled 96 kasavu-shuttles, each indexing a year of the artist's grandmother's life. In this structure, the shuttle operates as a mediating form between the weaver's generational breath and the artist's inherited lineage.Wrapped with thread and hair, these forms merge matrilineal memory with collective craft knowledge. Recast as a spiral, the work evokes cyclical temporality, return, and continuity.


Sathya 96 wooden shuttles,
kasavu threads, artist's hair, artist's son's hair
