Art inspired by Gandhi's philosophy

Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of 'sarvodya' and 'swadharma' has inspired an artist to create art installations comprising Azarakh prints on khadhi cloth needlecraft by women, and displayed it in the background of a multimedia spoken poetry presentation here.
The showcase titled "Salt: The Great March 2013" by artist Shelly Jyoti is being exhibited at the India Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) here.
"My present body of work explores the possibilities of establishing alternative societies where Gandhian ideals of 'swadharma' or upliftment of all could be established through their sincere implementation," says Shelly who calls herself a visual artist, independent curator, art, craft and design person.

Shelly says she began her journey for the art project inspired by Mark Kurlansky's book "Salt : A World History."
Exploring salt as symbol of non-violence and investigating theory in practice of tolerance, peace, harmony through the narratives of swadeshi politics has been the objective of her installation.
"I took off to Dandi for a few days to gain more knowledge and the raw materials like khadi, white sails, salt and a hose pipe for the installations have been brought from Dandi in Gujarat," Shelly says.

The four-week exhibition that began on September 28 and was inaugurated by Karan Singh, Rajya Sabha MP and President Indian Council for Cultural Relations, explores the artist's concept of connecting the past and present.

"Bringing together the two elements close to Gandhiji's heart and presenting it in a contemporary fashion to recreate and sponsor an ancient and dying methodology of printing on cloth is a very worthwhile theme," Singh said.
Shelly's work draws upon the history of India's colonial past and Mahatma Gandhi's 1930 Dandi March, which began the Salt Satyagraha and became an important part of the Indian independence movement.
"'Salt' features a large khadi fabric site specific installation, two sculptural installations with khadi yarns, chenille pipe cleaners and wires, 25 contemporary artworks on khadi as quilt samplers with traditional Azrak dyeing or printing technique, and multi-media spoken poetry," the artist says.