Textile art exhibition showcases new narratives in fibre, cloth & embroidery

Team L&M

At a time when textile art is experiencing a global resurgence, Where the River Meets the Sea, an exhibition of textile art by six leading contemporary women artists reflects how women artists are at the forefront of this movement. Merging tradition with contemporary thought, these artists have created works that resonate with today’s collectors, curators, and audiences alike.

Being held at Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art gallery in Colaba, Mumbai, the show offers refreshing new narratives in fibre, cloth & embroidery. The participating artists include Alamu Kumaresan, Aparajita Jain Mahajan, Dr. Savia Viegas, Hansika Sharma, Lakshmi Madhavan, and Meenakshi Nihalani.

The show is conceptualised by Anupa Mehta and curated by Goa-based historian and curator Lina Vincent. The exhibition contextualizes textile practices in India and investigates the dynamic possibilities of textile-based art as seen in the works of diverse practitioners.

Continuing the legacy of textile practitioners before them, the participating artists have traversed the personal and political, addressing memory, materiality, feminist positions, and socio-cultural shifts in their works. Consciously and unconsciously, they have woven threads of their truths, bringing untold narratives to the fore.

A Symbol of Life

“The river, a symbol of life’s journey, personal growth, memory, transformation, and hybridity, can be read as a metaphor for the creative and artistic impulse flowing through an artist’s work. At the point where it merges with the sea, it becomes part of a larger whole—a more universal truth. The exhibition is thus an invitation to reflect on this impulse within each artist’s practice, even as it positions textile art as a medium for feminist reflection,” says Mehta.

Each of the participating artists brings a distinct vocabulary, drawing from lineage, ancestry, and tradition while remaining firmly contemporary. Their works celebrate feminine strength and highlight how feminist perspectives and women’s voices continue to shape the discourse of contemporary art. In addition, a selection of artworks will be made available at special prices, offering collectors and first-time buyers an opportunity to acquire works by women artists redefining textile art.

“A glimpse at the textile map of the Indian subcontinent reveals an abundant heritage: yarns, weaves, block-making and printing, dyeing processes, appliqué, embroideries, and specialised karigari thrive in every region. Woven textiles preserve memory in their warp and weft; they represent culture and social evolution, deeply entwined with the histories of politics, trade, and colonialism. Textile and its decoration are coloured by gendered experience, with forms of needlework, embroidery, knitting, and quilting are often relegated to the space of craft and feminine domesticity,” says Vincent.

Mainstreaming Fibre & Textile

As many artists bring textile and fibre art into the mainstream, critical studies in modern and contemporary art are erasing the rigid distinctions between artisans, artists, and designers. In India, there is a growing acceptance of textile and fibre art in both exhibition-making and art discourse. Woven art and textile are increasingly used to present matrilineal knowledge, shared consciousness of the past, and forms of activism and resistance. Thread and dyes replace the formal devices of drawing and painting, while retaining deep connections to specific skills and traditions.”

ON VIEW TILL SEPTEMBER 11