The change that you want to see -Revisiting Gandhi: The Art of Shelly Jyoti

Mahatma Gandhi’s understanding of our philosophies is perhaps one of the most comprehensive one that we have. Mostly, instead of writing it down, he lived them to show us that they are not so hard to practice, after all; that the labours of the present will nurture the future. As an artist, Shelly Jyoti has weaved this into her work, by mirroring Gandhi’s life against her colours, textures and patterns. ‘Revisiting Gandhi: The Art of Shelly Jyoti’ is an exhibition that includes four bodies of work that have been nearly a decade of introspective works on titles “Indigo Narratives” (2009), “Salt: The Great March” (2013), “The Khadi March: Just Five Meters” (2016), and “Bound by Duty: An Idea Swaraj and Collectiveness” (2018). It includes 120 Ajrakh scrolls, 20 textile installations, multimedia spoken word poetry and a short film on the making of Swaraj and collectiveness.

Nationalist narratives

Shelly Jyoti

          Says Jyoti about her work, “It centres around the iconographic elements within the cultural context of modern Indian history and contemporary times. My art practice has two components – one is the study and other is research on Gandhian philosophy that has nationalist narratives of colonial past by connecting with the present; examining the relevance of Gandhi’s philosophy of swadharma in the 21st Century and the other is contemporary artistic production through Ajrakh.” Some of her first works were created by experiencing and learning about this magical reverse block printing technique with natural colours.

A textile tradition that historically dates back to the Indus Valley civilisation, Ajrakh is a 2500-year-old textile printing/dyeing technique. Jyoti creates her artwork in the studio of tenth generation of Ajrakh craftsmen in Ajrakhpur, Bhuj, Gujarat. Ajrakh means indigo in Arabic. Her present works are on hand khadi, exploring how textiles can be used to stitch together communities.

“Both as material objects and because of their artistic form, textiles can be used and may be useful in considering the globalised economic challenges that confront India and many other parts of the world today,” says Jyoti.

“My inspiration is akin to a micro-organism school of fish where trillions collaborate together undersea, displacing water to create ocean currents and waves. I examine the idea of ‘collective impact’ or ‘collectiveness’ in societies that are evolved ethically and spiritually, to bring social changes for better alternate societies. In this sense, I was attempting to, in essence, build an “aquarium of fish” with Ajrakh printing, natural dyes and needle work in an installation titled “Lunar swell: civilizations and collectiveness” where shades of blue khadi fabric symbolise the water body that is the genesis of the beginning and end of life. Thus, Hind Swaraj could not be achieved by a single fish in isolation, but rather through a deep and meaningful connection established and maintained by a community. I am exploring that perfection, of the sort that Gandhi hoped to inspire, cannot be mandated by elites or the government, but rather derives from the purification of individual intention and action,” adds Jyoti.

Expression of self

Work of Shelly Jyoti from the Lunar swell

For Jyoti, like any true artist, art mirrors the society, which pushes one’s boundaries to understand oneself as well as the ones around them. “At any given time, art is reflection of society. Sharing history through an art narrative to the next generation is connecting past with the present. It is a good way of bringing relevance and sharing values and experiences across time and space. Art is also an expression of self, if an artist feels strongly on a socio-political subject, art becomes an idea of expression to reach masses. This form of art is meaningful in any healthy, growing society and is important, as societies need a good confluence of art, society and polity,” says Jyoti.

(‘Revisiting Gandhi: The Art of Shelly Jyoti’ is on till October 26, at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.)