Vaidehi Kinkhabwala

“Somewhere beyond the iris in the eye, everything sizzles and sometimes, amidst this sizzling, a spark releases and connects to one particular form, leading to many more connections, setting all that surrounds in motion, giving a direction.” My inner world is driven by an insatiable quest towards an ephemeral wholeness, leading towards eternal dissatisfaction. Art for me is a  reflection of this human condition  that no one person or piece is ever truly complete. As a child who grew up in  a family trading in Indian textiles, I have always had an intense personal relationship with the themes of ethnicity and popular culture which have become the base of my forms and motif vocabulary. Bicultural experiences and struggle ensuing from transition to America has fundamentally shaped my recent work. Seeking to visualize the harmony over the disparity, my work aims to create a fusion between Indian patterns and motifs and western notions of brands in design. Merging the colourful Indian decorative attributes and ornamentation,Indian sand paintings,images of bollywood movies and gods with the american brands and tying them together constitutes this visualisation.Experimenting beyond traditional paper based printmaking led me to printing on fabric bringing about a third dimension to my work which further emphasises this fusion making it a more complex visual experience. This added dimensional element, I believe further enhances the visual experience of this amalgamation. Like the yin and yang,the multi-layered gown deals with the complexities and similarities between different lifestyles.