2012
INFUSIONS - Tea Bags Unlimited
I started this body of work titled ‘INFUSIONS - Tea bags Unlimited’ for a solo exhibition in Delhi, whilst living in London and continued working in my studio in Delhi. Used Tea Bags started getting associated with happenings in my life. Over time my collection grew into hundreds of tea bags consumed over holidays and journeys or while sharing a cup of tea with family or friends, through the consistent act of writing my journals on them. ‘TEA DIARIES VOL 1’ was the centre-piece of this exhibition. Central to almost all the works in this body of work is discovering fusion fabric, which allowed me to make large assemblages.
‘TEA STORIES QUILT’, emerged from my obsession for collecting newspaper and magazine clippings related to tea. In London I was gifted, round tea bags, on which I cut, collaged and pasted these on used and unused tea bags and filled them with cotton. In my studio in Delhi I stitched this assemblage, with the help of women from ‘Abhyudaya, an NGO, onto white muslin from Dhaka.
To dry and soak the moisture so as to be able to carry used tea bags, in my hand bag, I would wrap them in paper napkins. I collected and saved these, in my studio, and was fascinated by the soft mirrored patterns and impressions the tea left, like Rorschach tests. I composed and fused these through heat transfer onto fusion fabric. The women from ‘Abhyudaya’, sat in my studio for several days and did kantha or running stitch to make 20 scrolls called ‘MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS’
I started this body of work titled ‘INFUSIONS - Tea bags Unlimited’ for a solo exhibition in Delhi, whilst living in London and continued working in my studio in Delhi. Used Tea Bags started getting associated with happenings in my life. Over time my collection grew into hundreds of tea bags consumed over holidays and journeys or while sharing a cup of tea with family or friends, through the consistent act of writing my journals on them. ‘TEA DIARIES VOL 1’ was the centre-piece of this exhibition. Central to almost all the works in this body of work is discovering fusion fabric, which allowed me to make large assemblages.
‘TEA STORIES QUILT’, emerged from my obsession for collecting newspaper and magazine clippings related to tea. In London I was gifted, round tea bags, on which I cut, collaged and pasted these on used and unused tea bags and filled them with cotton. In my studio in Delhi I stitched this assemblage, with the help of women from ‘Abhyudaya, an NGO, onto white muslin from Dhaka.
To dry and soak the moisture so as to be able to carry used tea bags, in my hand bag, I would wrap them in paper napkins. I collected and saved these, in my studio, and was fascinated by the soft mirrored patterns and impressions the tea left, like Rorschach tests. I composed and fused these through heat transfer onto fusion fabric. The women from ‘Abhyudaya’, sat in my studio for several days and did kantha or running stitch to make 20 scrolls called ‘MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS’
Tea Diaries Vol I
4ft x 54ft
Used tea bags, tea tags, vintage lace, metallic paint, pen & ink, thread
Tea Stories Quilt
60” X 90”
Round used and unused tea bags, fusion fabric, newspaper and magazine clippings, cotton wool, muslin cloth, thread, acid free glue
Tea for Two
Dimensions
Materials
Mothers and Daughters
20 Scrolls - sizes variable
Tea stained paper napkins, fusion fabric, thread, thin wooden sticks
Inland Letters
32.5” x 95.5”
Inland Letter forms, envelops, folded paper, fusion fabric, metallic paint, pen and ink