The gorgeous nothings
I make a soft warm feeling with textiles that I like to call paintings. They are soft, light and airy, and transform when light passes through them, and are always willing to dance to the sound of nature, and city. They hold a lot of calm and love in them, and age gracefully I would imagine just like we do. When I am not making, I am usually plotting ways to enable true diversity, and gender equality through my startup.
I make to express what I find hard to articulate in words. I have been living with a deep sense of feeling uprooted ever since my mother passed away abruptly. I was seventeen. It is more like a constant undertow, a yearning for that warm fuzzy safe feeling of my mother’s presence—a feeling of home. This kind of displacement isn’t like the way it feels when you move cities, countries, or leave neighbourhoods. As I am writing this, I am also searching for words. It is easier to communicate the fragility of life through colours, shifting light, and material than it is with words that I forever keep falling short of. Playing with colour, cloth and movement allows me to make a feeling, and communicate all that muddled up emotion I feel— of feeling attached but not really. My making process starts with an emotion, and builds up from there. It is fluid yet chaotic. There is a lot of internal strife, discussions, arguments with myself whilst I am making. I like that kind of chaos, it is like a lively conversation with myself which leads to a playful dialogue between the mind and the hands. My hands can't keep up with my mind most times but it is what keeps me interested. There is a point in the process where the mind takes over the body(hands), and it feels meditative and at that point I am enveloped in a wave of calm. It is the most beautiful and fulfilling feeling. And in that moment I feel like I am home.
Tips on dyeing
Nature allows me to immerse myself in colour everyday. Dyeing feels like a very slow and considered way to be with myself and nature. Plants and flowers are magical to dye with because a lot of times the colours you see, aren't always the ones you get on cloth when you dye with them. My tip for people wanting to dye with plants is to throw all rule books out of the window and learn to immerse yourself in nature and let your sensory instinct guide you along. A lot of times just being excited about a certain colour you see or a smell you like on your walks is a great starting point to explore and learn ways to dye with a plant. Experiment and be playful - try all the things your mind and hands want to. There is really no right or wrong to dye, just a way you like to dye, and experience colour and moments with yourself.
Asha Vaidyanath