View/Open - Scholarly Commons Home

I conducted another experiment in order to create the discordant surface for the outer
layer of the spirituality garment. Initially I tried using commercially produced crushed
fabrics (like crushed velvets). However, these were more indicative of illusions of sex
workers on the gali and did not carry references to fatigue and disconnection. Eventually
the design was realised by a technique I developed where off-cuts from other artworks
were stitched onto black nylon net. I then distressed and dyed them with black pigments
to achieve the illusion of connection. The strength of this design was that it presented
visually, a surface that was ‘used’, distressed and disconnected.
While I conducted a plethora of other trials involving substrate design, the experiments I
undertook to create a metaphor for the rigidity of the belonging garment serve to illustrate
how I moved flexibly outside of traditional notions of ‘fabric’. I sought a very stiff
material that might work as a metaphor for the strong boundaries of the Indian social
system (as it related to rigid roles assigned to ‘marriageable’ women). I tried various
mediums including plastic sheet, hard paper fusing stitched with calico, the same material
coated with 100% acrylic polymer emulsion, and polymers used on polythene, satin and
cotton fabrics. None were successful. When I was working on an old plastic dress form,
however, I discovered the proper material. While having difficulty pinning into it, I
realised how rigid and ‘uncooperative’ it was. I quickly secured an old dress form and
cut, adapted and reshaped it into a bodice that would force the wearer to conform to
prescribed dimensions and body shape (see Fig. 6:5).
68