Nine Spheres

These hand-printed panels draw upon the depiction of the nine planetary deities, Navagraha, as supplementary images in India's temple and ritual cloths. Alluding to the complex and varying influences attributed to the planets in Indian thought, the panels also suggest subtle animation and lucidity of form once seen in Indian pattern-making. The design is inspired by a stock image from modern astro-photography: a time-lapse exposure of the night sky, in which astral bodies leave a delicate trace of concentric rings. The image yields, here, a celestial landscape of spheres that map the subtle passage of the stars across heavens. From a distance, the design appears to be composed of a single sphere repeated nine times across the surface. When viewed closely, however, each sphere reveals itself to be different from the others, recalling a key artistic aspect of India's historic patterned textiles. These panels are unique for their monolithic, non-repetitive design, and for their complex manipulation of large printing screens in multiple colours.