Braided stems from a very personal realisation. I had reached a stage in my life where I wanted to reconnect back with my family. This work is very close to my heart. I felt I had lost a lot of time and I was hoping to find my way back home. As I grow older, I realise that the women in our families have shaped us with the choices they made and the way they raised us. I wanted to look at the bonds we share with our moms and grandmothers, so the work became about revealing these layers.
INSPIRATION
I decided to close this work after Amma passed away. I feel it has helped me to have closure of some sort with the loss of a family member. I imagined making the book intimate, like a family album. While making it, my mom and I used to reminisce about all those stories forging a lifetime of memories. The text in the book reflects the same. I wanted to share these moments of intimacy, loss and bonds. I like the idea of a viewer making the book their own and the stories that are born from there.
HOME
I think the pursuit of a home and a sense of belonging is a feeling that comes with spending most of your life travelling and being away. It’s been cathartic for me to look at relationships that have been at my core. The journey of making this book has taken me down memory lane and emotions that I hadn’t visited in a while. I feel it tells a coming-of-age story.
BOOK MAKING
I made many dummies of this book to experiment with different elements. I wanted to use elements like fabric, stitching, and drawings along with the images to weave a narrative. I wanted it to feel like going through someone’s diary. The tactile nature of the book slows down the pace and makes the viewer engage with the work quietly.
STORYTELLING
I am drawn to stories of people, their spaces and communities. Looking to explore the delicate, unspoken relationships that bind people to places. I am interested in stories that come from various urban subcultures exploring the tension between the individual personality and the collective context. My ongoing projects engage with interpersonal relationships and culture.