Lahar लहर
MR21032
Waves of Nagaland woven with cotton on back strap loom
Crest and trough
dots and dashes
dits and dahs
“0" and “1”
laghu (light) and guru (heavy)
Yin and yang
Presence and absence
Up and down
The essence of weaving can be seen through many everyday articles we use- light switches, computer keypad, piano, drums. It exists in our various essential actions- walking, lifting and dropping, speaking. It is inevitable through out thoughts, their appearance and disappearance. Any routine is a weave. “Or,” “And,” and “Not” is a weave. Each repetition of choice of 0s and 1s , presence and absence, lift and drop creates a wave. From the waves, appears the pattern of wave cycle.
In each cycle, the mystery of life is unfolded.
Sound waves, light waves, water waves, weave waves.
Woven on back strap loom by the weavers of Nagaland, with the waves of warp and weft calculation, some loose threads take shape of a defined pattern of wave cycle. Without waves, it would not have any relevance.
Even the hands and feet of the weaver move like waves. You can keep looking at them as you would keep looking at the waves of the ocean.
If this shawl were the ocean, then one day its water is deep blue. I used Malkha indigo dyes solid to represent the depth of blue. And the other day, it is soft haze of blue through the ivory froth of waves. I used natural ivory Eri Silk woven with Indigo dyed hand spun, handwoven Eri silk to represent that mellow blue. Both sides offer the spectrum of this ocean and its waves.
Wave after Wave, the pattern reveals.