This exhibition in Mumbai showcases the threads of India by collaborating with local artisans

Kuwaiti-Indian designer Tahir Sultan’s new exhibition collects the best from the country through collaborative pieces with local artisans

For interior designer and artist Tahir Sultan, inspiration comes from many places. It could be a book he’s read, an element of nature, or working with his wide network of artisans across the country. In The Creatures Within, his first solo exhibition in the city, he blends together motifs from nature with the history of human artistry, highlighting the disparity between beauty and reality.

The Kuwaiti-Indian designer, who’s been creating art for the last 12 years, creates pieces in collaboration with local artisans from places like Dehradun, Vidharbha in Maharashtra, and Gond in Madhya Pradesh. “These pieces are very contemporary and out-of-the-box, but at the same time, they are a story you can relate to,” he explains. “For the trees, we engaged with Obeetee carpets, who work with local weavers in a collective outside Mirzapur. Our cotton fabric pieces were grown and woven from scratch by a women’s collective called ArtisanRe, in Maharashtra. The cloth was then transported to Dehradun, where another women’s collective called Pure Hands knitted it into the art piece it is now.”

Designer Tahir Sultan’s exhibition of fabric works is a tribute to the histories of artisans who weave these pieces of art in villages across the country

Several of the pieces in the exhibition, which is on view at Baro Market’s 47-A Design Gallery, are intricate knitted pieces, harking back to his Fashion Knitwear major. All of the pieces are collaborative works: Sultan painted the background for some “glow-in-the-dark” pieces, for example, and a women’s collective in Rajasthan went over the designs with embroidery detailing. “It’s a little diaspora of sorts, which encourages and keeps alive all of these techniques by re-inventing them,” he says.

While some rooms are whimsical, the other rooms feature different sorts of artworks. One room, done up in red and black, is a somber and personal tribute to the victims of Gaza. “It’s about lending a voice to oppressed people who have been perpetrated against. I’ve been a refugee; I lost my country when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. I know what it’s like to not know if you’re ever going to go back home,” he says.

And why this particular title, we ask? “We all have these different facets within ourselves which manifest in different ways,” he says. “Some people believe that we’re the only living creatures in the universe, but who really created us? The exhibits resemble different creatures made from nature, whether it’s aliens, insects, or flowers, and are an amalgamation of all of that.”

WHAT: The Creatures Within
WHEN: Till November 26
WHERE: 47-A Design Gallery, Khotachi Wadi

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