Yatra Kalamkari

“Yatra” kalamkari recalls with its design the emblematic paisley motive. Within this motive, a story is told. In the repetition of the two paisley designs, each composed of a spiral stretching its tail as a comet, to reach the other spiral, the visual impact induces a feeling of a dynamic, a motion between the two. It suggests the outburst, the surge, from one towards the other, the inter-penetration of the two worlds (spirals).

If we read the design from left to right, we can follow the engagements of a designer from the west going towards east, in her extended discovery of cultures. This is why this textile piece is titled “Yatra” (journey, in Hindi). If we look at the kalamkari from the right to the left, instead, we can recognise the Draupadi episode of the Mahabharata, when her mythical sari unrolls endlessly to protect her virtue. On this endless sari, comparable to the endlessness of time, all events are unfolded as narratives. The episodes depicted here are only an infinitesimal part of many kinds of events taking place in this world today.

In one or two folds, the two paisley designs spread themselves, linked to each other. Draupadi’s story, on the far right, echoes with Penelope’s story on the far left. The virtuous heroine of the Greek mythology finds her counterpart in Indian mythology with Draupadi. Penelope weaves and unweaves her fabric endlessly, and Krishna weaves an endless sari to protect the faithful Draupadi. Inside the left spiral, we have the Greek labyrinth, symbolic of the labyrinth of the mind. Gandhi, Saraswati, Kabir, Pipa-ji, Namdev, up to Buddha and his sutras, all this is woven in the narration, tattooed on the fabric. Maya, the illusion, had spread her veil on the landscape.

“Yatra” kalamkari is an autobiographical narration, elaborated by Bérénice Ellena (designer researcher, screenwriter) and Sri Niranjan (the kalamkari painter). A contemporary story told with a traditional technic.