OUR TEXTILES AND PEOPLE
2017-  Collage (Paint and fabric on canvas)

This work critiques the exploitative roots of the textile industry in the Indian Subcontinent, tracing its origins to an 1857 treaty that empowered the East India Company to establish industrial operations and initiate a historic textile trade with the Western world. The composition highlights the past and present: the setting sun, grey clouds, and surveillance drones evoke the enduring violence of colonialism and global capitalism. The foreground reenacts the treaty’s ceremonial cloth offering. Hand-stamped and stitched fabrics with traditional South Asian patterns like Paisley and Ajrak, anchor the piece in the region’s textile heritage. The work also speaks to the war, famine, and labor exploitation that accompanied this history.