Garden of Memory Alamu Kumaresan

Memory as Home
"An old photograph, a garden in bloom, a favourite chair, or a cabinet of memorabilia – for Alamu Kumaresan these are imbued with meaning beyond their immediate form, expanding through an interplay of memory, lived experience and aspirational truth. Contextualised around the exploration of portraiture and intimate domestic spaces, works in the exhibition foreground the tactile, durational process of embroidery on textile, offering viewers a space of pause and reflection.

‘Where I Belong’ is a representative work in the series, in which Alamu creates her self-portrait within a botanical oasis – translating a feeling of physical and emotional oneness with the vegetation and other life-forms around her. One can almost hear the hum of the insects, the whistle of breeze as it skuttles white clouds across a pink sky. It is an idyllic moment suspended in time, surreal in its circular lens and distorted perspective, and yet embodying the experience fully. In ‘Sanctuary’, she features a set of individualistic chairs, much desired but non-occupiable, piled poetically with varied paraphernalia of domestic life. This is a portrait of absence, and of belonging; a delicate overlay of solitary desires and physical reality. Alamu develops the chairs into complex still-life objects with an intensity of detail that counters their mundanity and utilitarian simplicity, also instilling them with emotion and character.

The works in the exhibition reiterate Alamu’s engagement with the idea of sanctuary, both internal and external. She explores selfhood and trajectories of memory, dwelling on aspects of the familiar and comfortable using the tactile, durational process of embroidery on textile. Carefully constructed scenes balance the particularity of her drawing with the intrinsic qualities of thread-work; areas of applique and rich colour-fill enhance and complement the linear motifs. One of the significant aspects of the compilation is that Alamu brings together an expanse of intergenerational feminine knowledge, expression and gesture in her work. Not only does she carry forward the act of sewing as practised by her grandmother, mother and aunts, but she has also incorporated precious material that has touched their hands, giving it new meaning within her current worldview. She translates the intangibility of memory, and the sentiments of love, loss, and hope into visualisations of home and what she understands as sanctuary. In this lineage of thread-work, she pays homage to countless women across centuries and geographies, who have silently, and often anonymously stitched, embroidered, and embellished, making their worlds a little more beautiful much before it evolved into a statement of personal and social politics.

Originally trained in painting, Alamu’s artistic vocabulary has evolved around a methodology of observation and meticulous translation into visual form. Portraiture has been one of the central themes in her repertoire. In the current series, she takes the role of both witness and participant, narrativizing personal, as well as collective histories within dramatic and intentionally configured tableaux. In these acts of self-representation, she affirms her existence and claims space, building nuance through a layering of expressive detail. The works are abundant in markers of connection with people, places, objects and beings, exploring both presences and absences in the process.
 
A tribute to her late mother, ‘Presence’ is a montage of multiple fragments, wherein Alamu traverses boundaries between real, imagined and remembered, nurturing a veritable garden of memory. The unifying factor in the work is embroidery, a literal and metaphorical thread that links one generation’s dreams with another’s lived reality. Past and present come together as evocative patterns and motifs meant for a bride’s trousseau half a century ago create a dialogue with objects and portraits of contemporary homely existence, highlighting the legacy of matrilineal knowledge and sharing.

Alamu acknowledges the notion of collectiveness and empathetic living in a universal sense, as seen in ‘Belonging’ in which she presents a family portrait with all the dogs and cats that have touched her life - pets and street animals alike. She celebrates the undemanding friendship of these creatures, reflecting on human tendency to prioritise themselves to the exclusion of other (humans and) living beings. Quite often, unremarkable and routine moments, like the comfortable form of a cat on a chair, a pile of folded clothes or a plant in a pot become conduits to convey broader histories of home and more abstract philosophies of life, of hope, love and survival.
 
The works invite deep viewing, with attention paid to the materiality, and the rhythmic logic followed in the making. The softness of fibre resonates with the aspects of vulnerability and sensitivity that the artist brings into the spaces she shares with her audience. Through her work, Alamu adopts a quiet resistance, the slow crafting processes and tranquil scenarios holding their own against the relentless speed, noise and mercurial shifts of the world at large. The popularity of fibre art and cultural investment in its research is now repositioning its meaning in the space of contemporary art. In this expanding landscape of expression, Alamu continues to push the boundaries of relief and sculptural processes with thread and textile.

Garden of Memory by Alamu Kumaresan, presented by Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art, Mumbai, is open to viewing until February 11th, 2026.

Text Lina Vincent 
Date 22.1.2026