Cut from the Same Cloth

Bikaner House, New Delhi, presented by Gallerie Nvya

Cut From the Same Cloth was initiated as a universal odyssey dedicated to exploring the self and its relationship with the spiritual cosmos. In this body of work, Seema Kohli enquired into the limits of her own art practice by constantly blurring the boundaries between myth and reality, self and the other.

For Kohli, art, life, and sharing truly intersected, and her practice spilled across the canvas of her entire life. As a contemporary artist, she studied the ancient myths and figures of India, exploring in them interwoven themes of beauty, sensuality, and spirituality. Through constant experimentation with various art mediums, she created her own narrative amalgamations of these subject matters.

Her work primarily celebrated the female form and Shakti — the feminine cosmic energy that is the source of all powers of creation and destruction. Engaging with a wide circuit of references such as religious iconography, world mythology, philosophy, and literature, Kohli wove together a story to recover the lost feminine narrative in cultural history. Through the visual language of art, she sought to grasp and materialise the metaphysical truth of existence and the cosmic energies responsible for all creation.

Employing the fundamental tenets of Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Sikhism, and Greek mythology, her personal emphasis lay on the cyclic nature of existence — exploring the decay and rejuvenation of innumerable life-forms through the unending process of birth, death, and rebirth. Her works became a state of meditation that, like Buddhist mandalas, explored cosmic truths and the laws of the universe. Kohli considered herself a visual yet abstract storyteller. The stories she wove were not autobiographical, yet they remained deeply personal and connected to occurrences in her life.

This assemblage of works expressed diverse nuances of life and different pathways to nirvana, the final liberation. In this journey, Kohli was guided by the verses of saints such as Kabir, Nanak, Namdev, Baba Farid, Bulleh Shah, and Shah Hussain. Many of these saints were weavers who taught how the body and soul were woven together. In this series, she explored their teachings through the visual deployment of weaving and stitching techniques.

During the development of the project, Kohli acquired a weaving loom and a charkha from Panipat weavers, which became part of the installation. She also employed the unique mechanical sonorities of the loom as a symbolic representation of ceaseless cosmic creation, into which all beings are minutely interwoven.

The project consisted of 15 artworks embroidered with silk and cotton threads, beads, and sequins on untreated canvas cloth. There were three paintings in acrylic with gold and silver leaf on canvas, as well as two works that brought together painting and embroidery. The series also included 18 drawings executed with gold leaf and inks on archival paper, depicting the instruments and materials used in the process of creating these artworks.

A 12-minute film captured Kohli’s involvement and the entire process of making the works at the Raj Art Initiative, where the first installation of the artworks was presented with the team at the Initiative.

The project culminated in a multidimensional performance that brought together animation, music, poetry, and movement, all based on Kohli’s artworks and poetry, presented at the amphitheatre at Bikaner House.