Vibhu Galhotra is a musician who has created a musical instrument that has been inspired by the pit and kilim looms. One of his works is an installation that uses a huge charkha on which he has added digital screens. Through scale and form, each piece is meant to take on a form that is surreal and yet majestic, these figures are like warriors, traveling through time, telling their own stories. Numerous images of the process and material, digitally overlapping each other are on a loop on these digital screens. He says, “My work is a visual exploration and journey in to the world of the carpet industry and the hundreds faceless people who create those magnificent rugs that we proudly use in our décor.
Last week when I saw the show Fibre Fables where contemporary artists collaborated with weavers to create works of contemporary art, I returned feeling very elated for it is a salute to the nameless, faceless industrial workers of Panipat for the collaborative works have accessed modern techniques and technology to create larger than life works to huge impact. Another body of works are sculptural heads, these heads are inspired by weavers in the factory, Sahaya has created the heads using clay and discarded parts of machinery from the factory.”Shivani Aggarwal, created sculptural installations of tools used in the factory, one of which is a large wooden shuttle wrapped in yarn. He says, “To me, the alphabet is a perfect metaphor for unity in diversity.
One of his works titled Roots has been woven on the kilim loom using metal wire mesh and wool. Her sculptures use raw wool and spun yarn to create texture and form.”Nidhi Khurana’s larger than life 26 x 16 foot map of Panipat China Wholesale 4.8 DIN933 ZINC HEXAGON BOLT M8 on the other hand is very modern and incorporates several techniques of weaving. Another work titled Layers & The Surface represents the human under skin and has been created using the hand tufting gun. Dhvani Behl is a textile designer who created amorphous sculptures on the pitloom and one sculpture using the hand tufting gun. These tools have been fabricated in fibre glass and then covered with pieces of namda.
Through this creative process, each artist has gained an insight into many new techniques that they hope to use in future as well, while the weavers have begun to look at their daily mechanical chores with a new, respectful gaze, as something that can be used to create a piece of art. Says Khurana: “The map of Panipat is a physical manifestation of my interaction with the ancient city. A hand-tufted calligraphy piece, with the words Kar, Kari, Kora, Kaar taken from one of Kabir's Dohas, depict the weaver, his tool and hands.