Experimenter Editions III | Hold Still

Textiles can serve as tactile repositories of memory and lived realities. Experimenter Editions III: Hold Still reflects on the possibility for the coexistence of multiple corporeal experiences. Each work in this folio reflects the unique synergy between the artist’s approach and the versatility of the textile as a medium that can be adapted into different manifestations, both materially and conceptually.

Ayesha Sultana’s work combines geometric shapes, stitching, and layered fabric to explore colour, transparency, and the interplay between light and texture while a private process of transformation is underscored in Afrah Shafiq’s becoming // unbecoming. Stitches mark the continuum of time and space, seeking a recalibration of the past through one’s used clothing and that of past lovers in Bhasha Chakrabarti’s XOXO (my heart in 21 pieces). Textiles become vantage points for archival research in social practices related to clothing in Kallol Datta’s work Poster 22 (1-21). Radhika Khimji’s work Circling the Peak delves into themes of homecoming, memory, and layered temporalities while T. Vinoja traces a moment of resilience amidst a strife-ridden cartography. By bringing together six different practices capturing varied fragments of time, this compilation of works—woven, embroidered, stitched, printed, quilted, and folded—underscores how textile becomes a potent medium of translation.