Tender embrace
Asia Triennial Manchester 2021
Postcard submission for “Love thy neighbour”.
Manchester Poetry Library at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Digital print on hand made paper, embroidery thread, woven cotton support. 148 x 210mm.
Amongst the enormous trauma and harsh reality of the COVID Pandemic I learnt with great sorrow of friends who had lost family members and others dear to them.
I have returned to an image captured in 2005 by my then fifteen-year old son of an embrace with an artist friend. This new work uses layers of printing and stitching to hint at the delicate tendrils of relationship and friendships with Indian artists that have evolved over decades to suffuse my own life. The multiple generations and iterations of printing rest now on handmade paper from the Kotla market near Defence Colony in Delhi, to be pinned, held fast by my simple embroidered stitches.
Oh to hold the world in such a tender embrace…
Postcard back
Asia Triennial Manchester 2021
Curated by Alnoor Mitha, ATM21 is a 12 day interdisciplinary program of art, poetry and film. The ATM21 asks: what does it mean to Love Thy Neighbour? How do people, irrespective of their religious or political beliefs, share common values of care and love?
A moving and compelling array of postcards have circumnavigated the globe and arrived in Manchester. Intimate and immediate, the artist’s postcard is a microcosm, a miniature work of art designed for a specific social purpose - to connect with others. This act of global artistic solidarity has connected disparate and dispersed individuals on a human level through poetry and art.
An exhibition of over 200 artworks, sent by over 100 artists from 20 different countries, showcased the rich histories of Asia and the globe, portrayed through modern and contemporary interpretations including prints, photography, fine art, embroidery and poetry.