Events of the week

All about wool

What: With its spotlight on the indigenous wool of India, ‘Desi Oon’, an online exhibition-cum-sale is now open. India boasts a rich diversity of indigenous wool and woollens, created by an ecosystem of herders, hand spinners, weavers, felters and dyers. The Desi Oon story, through the journey of the wool fibre, traces the movement of sheep, the uniqueness of each breed, gorgeous diversity of traditional products and the wonderful skill of wool artisans. The show seeks to connect pastoralists and artisans with designers and some of India’s best craft organisations trying to revive an entire value chain of indigenous wool. Each partnering organisation highlights a particular sheep breed – the Black Deccani Sheep by Mitan and Earthen Tunes, Harsil sheep by Avani and Peoli, Chokla by Rangsutra, Patanwadi by Khamir, and the indigenised Gaddi-Merino sheep of Himachal Pradesh by Aana Jana and Kullvi Whims. The exhibition is complemented by a film festival on pastoralism.

When: 10 -25  December 

Where: http://shop.rangsutra.com/

Film fest

What: Showcasing over 50 shorts, documentaries and feature films from South Asia, Canada, Britain, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Argentina, Australia, Turkey/Syria, Iran and

Thailand, the I-View World Film Festival is on. For the first time, the festival line-up includes a Visual Culture section, featuring experimental shorts, art documentaries and video-art works that blur the line between cinema and art. Supported and presented by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), British Council, Prince Klaus Fund and Emami Art the curation engages visual artists from around the world to discuss issues of gender, politics, human rights and the power of the moving image to influence change.

When: Till 20 December 

Where: www.plexigo.com

Looking back

What: Artist Meenakshi Nihalani’s research traces the roots of ongoing agrarian discontent to the 1700s, to reveal the extent to which unfair policies, taxation and fraudulent deals colluded during the colonial era to diminish the relevance of agriculture to the footnotes of history, in a context that has historically relied on farming. On display at the exhibition “I am Archiving for Us” she draws inspiration from the indigo revolution, which laid the foundation for Champaran Satyagraha, the first of Gandhi’s peaceful demonstrations in resistance to colonial rule. Working with indigo dye and jute textile that is common in the indigo-growing areas of Bengal and Bihar, the artist in this series of works captures altered topographies, erasure of cultural identities and transparently exploitative policies for the sake of indigo cultivation under colonial rule. 

Where: Website of Prameya Art Foundation

https://www.praf.in/