Stepwells: Poetry in Craft | Anjana Somany | Serendipity Arts Festival 2025

Описание: #StepwellPoetry #AnjanaSomany #SerendipityArtsFestival2025

Stepwells: Poetry in Craft is a curated exploration of India’s historic stepwells—reimagined through the language of craft. Led by curator Anjana Somany, the exhibition brings together textile traditions, artistic practices, and architectural memory to reframe the stepwell as both a physical and symbolic space.

Carved deep into the earth, stepwells—known as vav or baoli—were not just sources of water, but places of gathering, devotion, and reflection. Their layered descent into shadow and light becomes the central metaphor of this exhibition, where each work interprets the stepwell through a different material tradition.

Pichwai painting maps the architectural and spiritual dimensions of the stepwell, extending its narrative into immersive space. Embroidery reveals the unseen substrata beneath the surface—layers of soil, water, and stone translated into thread. Appliqué transforms fabric into structure, building arches and passages through light and shadow. Bandhani brings us to the water itself, where dye, cloth, and immersion echo the elemental relationship between material and nature.

Across these works, craft is not treated as ornament, but as a parallel system of knowledge—rooted in community, shaped by hand, and sustained across generations. Like the stepwell, these traditions hold memory, resilience, and beauty born from necessity.

This film offers a journey through these layered interpretations—inviting us to descend into an architecture of craft, perception, and time.

The stepwell is the source; craft is its continuity.

Curator
Anjana Somany

Participating Artists & Studios
Trilok Prakash Soni (Pichwai)
Morii Design (Embroidery)
Injiri – Chinar Farooqui (Appliqué)
Studio Medium – Riddhi Jain (Bandhani & Installation)

Film Credits
Video Editor: Anand Padmasena
Visuals: Taruna Khatri
Script: Rhea Susan John
Expert Guide: Yatin Pandya
Voiceover: Anjana Somany

Film on Adalaj:
Film by Taruna Khatri
Edited by Anand Padmasena

Installation & Craft Credits
Pichwai: Reimagining the Plan
Artist: Trilok Prakash Soni
Concept Design: Vertex Inc. with Anjana Somany
Structure Detailing: Harsh Verma

Substrata: Layers in Thread
Morii Design (Brinda Dudhat, Kabir Yadav)
Embroiderers: Soniben Rabari, Namaben Rabari, Lakhiben Rabari, Raniben Rabari, Jenaben Jat, Roksana Jat

Traversing the Architecture: Layers of Light and Shadow
Injiri (Chinar Farooqui)
Artisans: Meghwal community, Barmer

The Meeting Point: Water
Studio Medium (Riddhi Jain)
Makers: Abdul Aziz Sonegi, Yusuf Saifi

Acknowledgements
Exhibition & Graphic Design: Vertex Inc.
Abhhay Narkar, Aparna Nambiar, Prateeq Kumar
Assistants: Puru Varshney, Harsharan Kaur Virdi, Saachi Magdum

Recorded Folk Stories:
Anjana Somany, Rhea Susan John

Olfactory Composition: Gagan Singh, Rhea Susan John
Peephole Images & Drawings: Yatin Pandya

Assistant Curator: Rhea Susan John
Overall Support: Apoorva Upadhyay

Super Structure: Seventy Seven Entertainment Pvt Ltd
Light Design: Lirio Lopez Electrical

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