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THE KHADI MARCH: JUST FIVE METERS BY SHELLY JYOTI

October 20- 26, 2016

Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, 
Lodhi Road,
New Delhi 110003

OVERVIEW: The Khadi March: Just five meters is a call to action that challenges people who live in urban cities to grant dignity to the rural brethren and to rethink our engagement with the spinners, weavers and people who work with handicrafts in the villages. The featured works have two aims, one to touch upon the idea of swadharma towards nation and secondly explore a solution to uplift the rural population. The first is an ideology stemming from Vedas (Ancient Indian texts composed in Sanskrit) second is setting the context of finding a solution to bridge and connect rural (70%). The gist of the thought can be put in a simple way of buying five yards of khadi by thirty crore urban population to empower spinners, weaver and unremunerated village citizens and bring them livelihood. This form of swadharma would be an effortless exchange of sacrifice and gain woven through the notion of patriotism, purity and sacrifice.
These work comprises of several khadi site-specific installations, twenty Ajrakh textile artworks, multi media spoken word poetry and a short documentary film on mapping ajrakh textile traditions in contemporary art and craft Above image: Excerpt from the image ‘ The spinning wheel:Flag series’ 2016

Catalog essays by Lisa Trivedi and Guruji Narayana

Lisa Trivedi is a Cultural and social historian, author of ‘Clothing Gandhi’s Nation: Homespun and Modern India’, A Professor of History at Hamilton College, New york, USA

 Gurujee Narayana is a management guru. An exponent on Bhagwat Gita, Upanishads and Vedic literature. He is a mentor to many chief executives and is a yogic volunteer, serving rural and urban India.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

The Khadi March: Just five meters’ (2016) continues to explore Gandhi’s idea of swadharma, a subject I have pursued in two previous projects, ‘Indigo Narratives’ (2009-14) and ‘Salt: The Great March’ (2013-15). As a visual and textile artist, my work seeks to address iconographic elements present within the context of modern Indian history and contemporary society. I use khadi in this exhibition both as a symbol and as a material that expresses qualities of self-purification, self-reliance and independence. Drawing upon my training in literature, fashion and clothing, my visual art challenges the creative, technical, and experimental space within my artistic practice. This exhibition is a call to action that aims to challenge people who live in urban cities to rethink our engagement with the rural spinners, weavers and handicraft makers in India’s thousands of villages and beyond.It does through substantive collaboration with tenth generation Ajrakh textile artisans in Gujarat. I have been able to consider the critical relationship between the materials and traditional processes used in Ajrakh production to develop a deeper understanding of the critical role that cloth, fiber, natural dyes, and environment each play in my khadi Ajrakh creations.‘The Khadi March: Just Five Meters’ showcases the khadi as a medium for urban India that can support a new dialogue with our rural communities and fellow human-beings.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE & LECTURES

EXHIBITION

The Khadi March: Just five meters By Shelly Jyoti
October 20- 26, 2016
Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, 
Lodhi Road,
New Delhi 110003, 
Phone: 43662024, 43662025

Opening Reception: Thursday, 20^th October 6 pm

Chief Guests: Smt Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee –Grand daughter of Mahatma Gandhi
                          Vinai kumar Saxena –Chairman Khadi &village Industries commission

LECTURE | PANEL DISCUSSION

Gandhi’s khadi: Cutting across time and space
6.30pm Friday, October 21, 2016
Bikaner House, New Delhi

Panel list and key note speakers:
Smt Tara Gandhi Bhattacharje; Meenakshi Lekhi MP lok Sabha; Ritu Beri- Fashion designer; Varsha Das- A renowned Gandhian thinker, art critic & litterateur;Geeta Goradia-Former President of Federation of Gujarat chambers of commerce; Guru Narayana Gattu- Exponent on Bhagwat Gita and upnishads; Shelly Jyoti – A visual/ textile artist and an independent curator; Poonam Goel-New Delhi based art writer (Moderator)

 Curatorial Walk: Tracing the Ajrakh traditions through Shelly Jyoti’s Art works
4.00pm October 22, 2016 Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, 
Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003

This exhibition is in part supported by Khadi & Village Industries Commission and YES Institute