Artist Jagrity Phukan is on a journey to build a truly sustainable community. Working on her farms and creating art and fashion through the harvest, she realizes the challenges faced by the world today and the significance of going back to the roots. We spoke to her on the sidelines of her recently concluded art exhibition Feeling through Fibre at 47-A and unraveled how she imbibes traditional values into her creations.
Excerpts:
Could you tell us about your collection that was displayed in the recently concluded exhibition?
The exhibited piece titled “A Day in the Paddy Field and the Kheri Queen’s Immersion” serves as a compelling conversation starter about the indigenous agricultural practices of rural Assam. It is part of a greater series called "The Seed and the Song of the River." It is made using indigenous materials and weaving techniques. The piece portrays the traditional paddy cultivation practices and the farmers' struggle against periodic floods. The term “Kheriqueen,” imagined as the role of scarecrows in safeguarding paddy fields, is encapsulated as a profound artistic metaphor.
Your artworks comprised indigenous yarns of Assam. Please throw some light on this medium.
All our materials are either homegrown in our ancestral farms or collected from the nearest forest in a regenerative way. The world’s most long-lasting and sustainable golden silk -Muga, has its own GI, and is our primary material. Eri silk is the domicile silk, which is also known as the ahimsa silk is grown all around the year while Mulberry silk though grown, has less production than the other varieties.
We are also currently exploring some other fibers derived from rich biodiversity plants grown familiarly and have been used in many different practices in our living traditions. All of them are hand spun and reeled using our traditional bamboo and wood tools. Our dyes are harvested from our gardens or collected from community forests
How are you working towards the revival of handloom weaving?
Weaving thrives in nearly every household in my hometown. Our primary challenge lies in translating ancestral wisdom into contemporary relevance, departing from traditional products. A strategic blend of material innovation, design intervention, and systemic change promises a socio-economic revolution and threads of transformation throughout the craft landscape. We are crafting a narrative rooted in natural, organic, and holistic principles of life.
How important is it to document indigenous art and craft?
Heritage anchors us in traditions, values, and collective identity, providing nourishment, stability, and resilience across generations. Art and craft speak to the material culture and socio-political fabric of their time. Learning from the past enables us to forge a path toward the future. Amidst the climate crisis, indigenous communities possess invaluable insights into ecosystems and biodiversity. Integrating these insights into decision-making enhances the effectiveness and sustainability of conservation efforts. Hence, well-documented indigenous art and craft serve as a guiding light for humanity's progress.
Tell us about the Way of Living Studio.
Way of Living Studio is a progressive design studio that nurtures the culture of slow and conscious design at its core, employing a radical, restorative, and regenerative multidisciplinary approach to design research, social innovation, and co-creation with indigenous craft communities based in Dhemaji, Assam. At Way of Living Studio, we cultivate our clothes. It represents a movement and a design studio that embodies the future of luxury. Our sustainable luxury textile brand collaborates with sericulture farmers, spinners, weavers, and dyers in a soil-to-silk and fibre-to-fashion approach. At the intersection of design and heritage, we aim to address challenges in the global fashion industry with an ecological and ethical blueprint.
How are you giving a multi-disciplinary approach to the traditional materials of Assam?
All this while, there has been very little intervention observed in terms of fibres and the rich biodiversity of natural heritage in northeast India. My idea is to treat these fibres like any other, simply because the idea of working with hands excites me. Traditional tools help us preserve the rich knowledge and adaptation of fibres passed down over generations. Embracing the natural diversion and imperfection of these fibres is integral to our approach, creating a fabric of change while conserving biodiversity, restoring indigenous communities, and enhancing climate resilience. When you work at the grassroots, it is not just about pieces of textiles being made at the looms; it begins with proper cultural appropriation, anthropology, conservation, and socio-economic issues etc such as women empowerment, gender equality, equal opportunities for all, and climate action—all intersecting cohesively.
One Assamese tradition that you adhere to, in your work
If I were to mention one thing that I adhere to closely from my roots, it would be living in harmony with nature—the idea of abundance and the relationship of women with nature—the eco-feminist way of doing things, which is the core of our current practice.
Her ongoing exhibition is 'Larger Than Life' curated by Srila Chatterjee at Method, Kala Ghoda till October 20, 2024