Tracing Place: Archana Pathak’s Textile Cartographies
Artist Archana Pathak creates textile works that act as both personal archive and universal meditation. Rooted in her dual heritage and informed by a life of movement and reflection, Pathak’s practice weaves together cartography, ephemera, and handwork into poetic explorations of belonging. Her Tree of Life series invites us to look closer at the landscapes - internal and external - that shape us, and to find beauty in what is fleeting.
Self, 2017. From the 'Layers of Being' series.
At the heart of Archana Pathak’s artworks are themes of identity and transience. Her work is founded in both British and Indian heritage, often drawing on her experiences of travel and displacement as a student studying at the Chelsea college of art. Her work is organised into an ongoing series Memories of Being and she writes of discovering her style of art as a means of collecting and documenting her lived experiences.
“I collect and work with found memory artefacts, such as old photographs, letters, diaries and maps. Often those artefacts are old maps – they bring forth the evolving nature of boundaries, both physical and psychological…Memories of Being is a mix of collected old maps of places we know, lived in, travelled to, were displaced from or longed for.” ...
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Image Credits:
Lead Image: Archana Pathak - Tree of Life III, 2023. Heat transfer printing, hand stitch. Vintage linen, handmade threads.