Pragati Mathur: Breaking the Boundaries
Pragati Mathur is an experimental weaver and textile artist, based in Bangalore, Karnataka state, India. She weaves with varied yarns and materials to create wonderfully layered works, embedded with elements, at the intersection of textile, sculpture and installation. Brinda Gill, Selvedge Guest Editor, speaks to Pragati and her practice.
Brinda Gill. How/when did you get drawn to textiles and weaving?
Pragati Mathur: Craft, art and colour are part of our inherent culture in India and were also an important part of our culture at home. From a very early age, I was drawn to colour and had an innate sense of it. My parents were great travellers and my father often picked up beautiful cotton and silk saris from across India for my mum. I travelled to Paris at the age of twelve and was awed by the fantastic art displays at the Pompidou Centre. The influence of the colour language in Rajasthan my homeland also made a big difference.
I studied English Literature and then went on to study art. In 1985, I joined Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai, to study Textile Design. The institute had just opened an art gallery and the first show was of the eminent textile weaver and artist Nelly Sethna. There were balls of yarn on the floor, parts of the loom as decor and then these magnificent tapestries displayed. Nelly is known for large-scale, layered tapestries. Seeing her work -that seemed to seamlessly mesh tapestry and sculpture- I felt this is what I wished to do. That moment was a significant turning point and charted the course of where I am today.
BG: Which aspect of weaving is your forte?
PM: While studying weaving, I kept trying different things. I would weave with anything I could lay my hands on. I found bamboo slats with a basket weaver on the roadside, painted them on the reverse and wove them into yarn. I enjoyed working with leftover fabrics which were stripped by hand and then rewoven back into the warp. Creating deliberate small and large floats as a part of the pattern, and playing with yarn to make fuzzy textures was one of my early primary techniques. I didn’t fit the mould, much to the anguish of the faculty!
Many years later as a trial, I worked with copper wire to see if I could weave in a sculptural format, as per the requirement of a client. It worked! It was also to break the boundaries and the notion that textile is necessarily two-dimensional and therefore flat. This is what I saw in Nelly’s tapestries as well. She would tuft and make sculptural forms out of her woven installations.
From that point on, I started explorations with cords, rods, frays, knots, twists, sheets, strings, paper, plastic –you name it! This led to an incredible canvas and many endless possibilities started unfolding themselves. I felt like a whole new language and world had opened up. I have experimented with and explored many materials as a form of expression towards my woven language since then.
BG: What are the challenges of weaving with different materials?
PM: Working with unorthodox materials comes with a particular set of challenges –some known, some unforeseen. A lot goes into pre-planning, pre-empting the troubles one could face. It is important to be thorough with techniques and calculations. One needs an in-depth understanding of relevant materials and their behaviours on and off the loom; the treatments required towards form and longevity; finishing ancillary post-weaving; and detailed installing processes where required.
Varying materials means dealing with various procurements, weights, execution processes, handling, sizing, balance, orientation, and aesthetic appeal. The scope to unravel and start over is limited due to the labour-intensiveness, cost and time implications. The need to pre-plan every two millimetres woven is imperative towards smooth sailing.
Yet, one could still be in for a surprise while at the loom or when taking the textile off the loom due to the unforeseen, inherent behavioural nature of the varied materials used. Lastly, this aspect also involves a dependency on others - associated industries and people- which is not entirely in one’s control. I also never imagined I would be doing math or engineering, not realising that these are key components in woven textiles.
BG: Please tell us about the weaves you create
PM: My textiles involve layering, texturing, sculpting, explorations and ongoing experimentation. Over the years I have dabbled with various diverse products like tapestries, rugs, scarves, stoles, shawls, saris, handcrafted home textiles and woven wire installations. In my textiles, traditional motifs are continuously reinterpreted to suit contemporary trends. I have created yardages for leading designers in India, and have also done standalone site-specific commissioned works for clients in India and abroad.
BG: How do you conceptualise a work?
PM: Most of my works are inspired by or represent women’s narratives, global issues and ecological concerns in a subtle, subconscious way. A lot of my inspiration -for form and design- draws from ancient geometry for balance and flow. All my works start with a name and/or a concept note, then comes a line sketch which becomes a blueprint of sorts.
The work evolves over the course of time and execution according to site conditions, materials, budgets and aesthetics. I have often seen that the work takes on a personality and starts to have a dialogue with me. I believe as an artist and creator it is vital to respond to this conversation for the creation to have purity and be a success.
Every work is pre-planned with meticulous detailing, hand sketches, CAD sketches if required by the client, and sampling so that all glitches can be eliminated at the beginning stage. It is a rather long-drawn preparatory process which is very important and is half the project. Once the plan is organised as a dossier it becomes much easier to execute the work. I like to stay the course, and so the sketches I do for clients correspond fairly well to the executed work.
BG: Please tell us about a site-specific work you created
PM: My most interesting, creative and challenging site-specific work is Nauraspur which has been installed in the Bengaluru International Airport’s sparkling new Terminal 2. As per the brief given to all artists by Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), the work is inspired by the nine emotions expressed in the Natya Shashtra, an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, originally written in the Sanskrit language.
The Nauraspur installation has nine layers and each one is dedicated to one of the nine rasas (human emotions). These emotions are Shringara (beauty and love), Bhaya (fear), Bheebhatsya (revulsion), Irsha (jealousy), Shanta (peace), Adbhuta (wonderment), Hasya (happiness), Karuna (compassion), and Raudra (anger).
The techniques used for creating the layers and textures are tapestry weaving, shag pile (rug weaving), basketry (for crafting flowers), colour and weave effects, block prints, and plain weave using various elements including silk yarn, cotton yarn, copper wire, steel and brass pellets, metallic ribbon, glass beads and dye-cut flowers.
The work has colour-coded associations- such as white signifying peace, black signifying fear and red embodying anger –to create a subconscious dialogue with the viewer, stimulating their senses and emotions. The work thus creates a visual spectacle and a profound sensory experience. It is mounted on the ceiling and can be viewed by passengers as they take the escalator, which gives them different perspectives of the work as they ascend/descend levels.
BG: How do you find the process of weaving and creating?
PM: I find the process meditative, joyful and creative. I have recently started holding very small-batch weaving workshops for beginners to share the joy of weaving and the meaning it brings to our lives. I guide and urge them to explore the loom, yarns, wire, other unorthodox materials, and fabrics at my studio. Over the years, I have collected large amounts of materials towards repurposing and up-cycling.
I take the students through three basic weave structures. At the end of the workshop, they leave with a table frame loom and a work of textile art that they have created. Interesting is a transformation in them: in their confidence regarding the creative process and accepting the flow of the technique. One student remarked that it would be apt to apply the same approach to life itself, of working on things and then allowing them to unfold and see the design that emerges. I thought it was so telling and beautiful.
@pragatimathurtheweaver
Text: Brinda Gill
Photo credits: Karthik Yadav, Babita Lingraj and Indumathi Swamy
Brinda Gill. How/when did you get drawn to textiles and weaving?
Pragati Mathur: Craft, art and colour are part of our inherent culture in India and were also an important part of our culture at home. From a very early age, I was drawn to colour and had an innate sense of it. My parents were great travellers and my father often picked up beautiful cotton and silk saris from across India for my mum. I travelled to Paris at the age of twelve and was awed by the fantastic art displays at the Pompidou Centre. The influence of the colour language in Rajasthan my homeland also made a big difference.
I studied English Literature and then went on to study art. In 1985, I joined Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai, to study Textile Design. The institute had just opened an art gallery and the first show was of the eminent textile weaver and artist Nelly Sethna. There were balls of yarn on the floor, parts of the loom as decor and then these magnificent tapestries displayed. Nelly is known for large-scale, layered tapestries. Seeing her work -that seemed to seamlessly mesh tapestry and sculpture- I felt this is what I wished to do. That moment was a significant turning point and charted the course of where I am today.
BG: Which aspect of weaving is your forte?
PM: While studying weaving, I kept trying different things. I would weave with anything I could lay my hands on. I found bamboo slats with a basket weaver on the roadside, painted them on the reverse and wove them into yarn. I enjoyed working with leftover fabrics which were stripped by hand and then rewoven back into the warp. Creating deliberate small and large floats as a part of the pattern, and playing with yarn to make fuzzy textures was one of my early primary techniques. I didn’t fit the mould, much to the anguish of the faculty!
Many years later as a trial, I worked with copper wire to see if I could weave in a sculptural format, as per the requirement of a client. It worked! It was also to break the boundaries and the notion that textile is necessarily two-dimensional and therefore flat. This is what I saw in Nelly’s tapestries as well. She would tuft and make sculptural forms out of her woven installations.
From that point on, I started explorations with cords, rods, frays, knots, twists, sheets, strings, paper, plastic –you name it! This led to an incredible canvas and many endless possibilities started unfolding themselves. I felt like a whole new language and world had opened up. I have experimented with and explored many materials as a form of expression towards my woven language since then.
BG: What are the challenges of weaving with different materials?
PM: Working with unorthodox materials comes with a particular set of challenges –some known, some unforeseen. A lot goes into pre-planning, pre-empting the troubles one could face. It is important to be thorough with techniques and calculations. One needs an in-depth understanding of relevant materials and their behaviours on and off the loom; the treatments required towards form and longevity; finishing ancillary post-weaving; and detailed installing processes where required.
Varying materials means dealing with various procurements, weights, execution processes, handling, sizing, balance, orientation, and aesthetic appeal. The scope to unravel and start over is limited due to the labour-intensiveness, cost and time implications. The need to pre-plan every two millimetres woven is imperative towards smooth sailing.
Yet, one could still be in for a surprise while at the loom or when taking the textile off the loom due to the unforeseen, inherent behavioural nature of the varied materials used. Lastly, this aspect also involves a dependency on others - associated industries and people- which is not entirely in one’s control. I also never imagined I would be doing math or engineering, not realising that these are key components in woven textiles.
BG: Please tell us about the weaves you create
PM: My textiles involve layering, texturing, sculpting, explorations and ongoing experimentation. Over the years I have dabbled with various diverse products like tapestries, rugs, scarves, stoles, shawls, saris, handcrafted home textiles and woven wire installations. In my textiles, traditional motifs are continuously reinterpreted to suit contemporary trends. I have created yardages for leading designers in India, and have also done standalone site-specific commissioned works for clients in India and abroad.
BG: How do you conceptualise a work?
PM: Most of my works are inspired by or represent women’s narratives, global issues and ecological concerns in a subtle, subconscious way. A lot of my inspiration -for form and design- draws from ancient geometry for balance and flow. All my works start with a name and/or a concept note, then comes a line sketch which becomes a blueprint of sorts.
The work evolves over the course of time and execution according to site conditions, materials, budgets and aesthetics. I have often seen that the work takes on a personality and starts to have a dialogue with me. I believe as an artist and creator it is vital to respond to this conversation for the creation to have purity and be a success.
Every work is pre-planned with meticulous detailing, hand sketches, CAD sketches if required by the client, and sampling so that all glitches can be eliminated at the beginning stage. It is a rather long-drawn preparatory process which is very important and is half the project. Once the plan is organised as a dossier it becomes much easier to execute the work. I like to stay the course, and so the sketches I do for clients correspond fairly well to the executed work.
BG: Please tell us about a site-specific work you created
PM: My most interesting, creative and challenging site-specific work is Nauraspur which has been installed in the Bengaluru International Airport’s sparkling new Terminal 2. As per the brief given to all artists by Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), the work is inspired by the nine emotions expressed in the Natya Shashtra, an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, originally written in the Sanskrit language.
The Nauraspur installation has nine layers and each one is dedicated to one of the nine rasas (human emotions). These emotions are Shringara (beauty and love), Bhaya (fear), Bheebhatsya (revulsion), Irsha (jealousy), Shanta (peace), Adbhuta (wonderment), Hasya (happiness), Karuna (compassion), and Raudra (anger).
The techniques used for creating the layers and textures are tapestry weaving, shag pile (rug weaving), basketry (for crafting flowers), colour and weave effects, block prints, and plain weave using various elements including silk yarn, cotton yarn, copper wire, steel and brass pellets, metallic ribbon, glass beads and dye-cut flowers.
The work has colour-coded associations- such as white signifying peace, black signifying fear and red embodying anger –to create a subconscious dialogue with the viewer, stimulating their senses and emotions. The work thus creates a visual spectacle and a profound sensory experience. It is mounted on the ceiling and can be viewed by passengers as they take the escalator, which gives them different perspectives of the work as they ascend/descend levels.
BG: How do you find the process of weaving and creating?
PM: I find the process meditative, joyful and creative. I have recently started holding very small-batch weaving workshops for beginners to share the joy of weaving and the meaning it brings to our lives. I guide and urge them to explore the loom, yarns, wire, other unorthodox materials, and fabrics at my studio. Over the years, I have collected large amounts of materials towards repurposing and up-cycling.
I take the students through three basic weave structures. At the end of the workshop, they leave with a table frame loom and a work of textile art that they have created. Interesting is a transformation in them: in their confidence regarding the creative process and accepting the flow of the technique. One student remarked that it would be apt to apply the same approach to life itself, of working on things and then allowing them to unfold and see the design that emerges. I thought it was so telling and beautiful.
@pragatimathurtheweaver
Text: Brinda Gill
Photo credits: Karthik Yadav, Babita Lingraj and Indumathi Swamy
2 comments
Pragati’s work has always been inspiring. Her sense of Aesthetics, texture and colour are exceptional. Always a pleasure seeing her work.
So beautiful and elegant Pragati..it was a creation of intense thought process and your upbringing which resulted in this unique weaving.