Birds -Weavers' Service Centre, Mumbai -Installation

The motifs of birds which appear in this textile are taken from the richly illustrated The Book of Indian Birds, a publication from 1941, by Dr Salim Ali. Among the largest of the Visvakarma commissions, it belonged to a group which could be seen to have triumphantly concluded the series of exhibitions. By this time, the artists at the WSCs and beyond, who had been a part of the journey, could clearly envision a confident future for handmade Indian textiles. Martand Singh, the Director of Visvakarma, later refleected that such large-scale panels lend themselves as backdrops and drapes for performing art spaces.

The creation of such a large panel required the efforts of multiple artists, and the uneven and sometimes awkward distribution of forms suggests that the individual artists needed a clearer concept of the layout and treatment of the subject at the outset. A more coordinated approach to the project may have resulted in a more cohesive and effective final product.