Festival of Ideas

TEX(T)ILED Bodies

Artist: Mamta Sagar                                                                                                                             
Faculty: Sai Gautam Upadhye
Participants: Avani Sharma / Antara Bose / Agarwal Muskan Dinesh / Gauri Subbaramu / Ishika Khanna / Khundrakpam Bandana / Khushi Seth / Lakshya Pratap / Rushika Kadam / S Gomathy Raina / Shameen Banu A / Siddharth Singh / Sriya Ms / Varsha Simha / Vedika Seth / Vengurlekar Shreya Mahesh / Yash Vikas Kulkarni / Leasafi

TEX(T)ILED BODIES is a project that explores the social norms around the gaze related to covering and uncovering bodies through the medium of textiles and fabric. Students have used poetry as a tool to unpack notions of pride and shame associated with clothes and covering of human bodies. Through hands-on activities, students have created cloth installations and scrolls using poetry and short narratives. The project aims to sensitise participants towards gender, caste and diversely marginalised bodies, and also includes collaborations with visually challenged communities to produce texts in braille and with a community of multilingual poets.

Artist Bio: Mamta Sagar is a Kannada poet, playwright and academic, who teaches at Bangalore University. She has published poetry collections and plays, translated contemporary African and Francophone poets into Kannada. Her poetry reflects social concerns and engages with human rights, gender and social justice.

Faculty Bio: Sai Gautam Upadhye is a fashion designer, with a Bachelors of Science in Fashion Technology, diploma in Special Dress Making and Fashion Designing. He has teaching experience and experience running a boutique and as a lecturer. His current practice at Srishti is in Creative Manufacturing-Textiles, Apparels and Made-ups.