The Marriage -Installation

This textile is one of a set of three which depicts, intricately, the details of an elaborate wedding procession. Developed at a middle stage of the Visvakarma exhibitions, this theme was a departure from the earlier religious imagery in Kalamkari while keeping it rooted in a familiar setting of the social life of the region where it was produced. A use of a green base was a radical departure from conventions, and dyeing in a tea infusion lent it a final colour finish, along with hand calendering. The artist went onto develop a well known arts practise, and his later, private commissions are in important collections in India.

‘The Marriage’ was commissioned to M Kailasam by Sri Redayya, who was working with the Weavers Service Centre at Tamil Nadu. At the centre, the subject is human than divine, where marriage as a rite of passage is celebrated. Kailasam garu remembers having worked the panel from bottom upwards. Haling from a family of weavers and artists, Kailasam was trained at the Kalamkari training centre which was opened at the behest of Pupul Jayakar. He won the national award for his Ramayana based Kalamkari in the 70s.