Hanging by a Thread

(Ammammayude Mundu Veshti)

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Kasavu mundu veshti, thread, wood, 72” x 48” (6 panels)

36” x 36” x 37.92”  (central installation)

Lokame Tharavadu, Alleppey

Mar 2021 - Dec 2021

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The artist threads her way towards home, tracing her roots through the contours of language indicating the inherent social, cultural, political and linguistic hierarchies woven into defining the fibres of identity and belonging.

 

The work consists of six custom woven panels of kasavu mundu, the traditional fabric of Kerala. The material is an ode to the artist’s grandmother, a central figure in the artists formative years, who she remembers as always being draped in pristine versions of the mundu veshti. (Two part saree: mundu is the lower part, veshti the upper part)

 

The kasavu bears the depth of a close and emotional shared with her grandmother transcribing each woman’s version of gender inequality, patriarchy, culture & social norms. Malayalam & English carry the burden of this dialogue connoting the clash of the colonial & native – a power struggle that continues to play out in the artists  creation of identity & selfhood.

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