Traversing the Architecture | Stepwells: Poetry in Craft | Anjana Somany X INJIRI | SAF 2025

Описание: #SerendipityArtsFestival2025 #LayersOfLightAndShadow #BarmerCraft #Applique

Traversing the Architecture: Layers of Light and Shadow is an immersive textile installation by Injiri, exploring the relationship between fabric, architecture, and perception.

Drawing from the appliqué traditions of Barmer, Rajasthan—locally known as Kataab—the work transforms cloth into an architectural experience. Layers of hand-cut and hand-stitched fabric form pillars, arches, and passages, inviting the viewer to descend through shifting planes of light and shadow, much like the experience of moving through a stepwell.

Practised primarily by women of the Meghwal community and Sindhi refugee families, appliqué is a tradition rooted in memory, resilience, and inherited skill. Each layer of fabric, fixed with lai (flour paste) and secured with fine stitching, carries forward generations of knowledge. Traditionally used in quilts, canopies, and domestic textiles, here the craft expands into a contemporary spatial form.

In this monochromatic installation, cloth becomes structure. Through addition and subtraction—layer upon layer—the work plays with transparency, depth, and light. Solid forms dissolve into the ephemeral, while fleeting shadows take on the weight of stone. The result is an architecture not just of material, but of perception.

About Injiri
Founded in 2009 by Chinar Farooqui, Injiri is a textile studio that bridges art, design, and India’s living craft traditions. Rooted in Rajasthan, Chinar’s practice is shaped by her early exposure to craft, her studies in Fine Arts at MS University, Baroda, and Textile Design at the National Institute of Design.

Through sustained engagement with artisan communities across Rajasthan and Gujarat, Injiri reinterprets traditional textile forms for contemporary contexts. The studio is committed to longevity—supporting craft clusters through continuous work, preserving skills, and ensuring dignified livelihoods.

Today, Injiri’s textiles are showcased globally, carrying forward India’s rich textile heritage as a living, evolving practice.

Credits
Film by: Injiri
Filmmaker: Navendu Sharma
Script: Chandralata Roy
Voiceover: Chinar Farooqui

Makers of the Artwork:
Ruma Devi Foundation
(Rukhma Devi, Motan Devi, Kamla Devi, Mumal Devi, Meeran Devi & Gyan Ji)

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