Artist revisits memories with mother in new show

During the initial stages of her art practice, Delhi-based artist Nandini Hasija's imagination was driven by surreal images of nature.
She made portraits of elephants tangled in a web of trees and had an adulation for snakes and octopuses.
Although the artist went on to explore other subjects, her complex relationship with her mother has brought Hasija back to the memory lane.
In her first solo-exhibition, titled "Weaving Labyrinths", the artist is attempting to explore the development of identity based on the relationship which she shared with her mother.
The ongoing exhibition at Triveni Kala Sangam here, incorporates Hasija's two series of works, one comprising drawings on paper and the other of self-woven sculptures of jute.

Where on one hand, the strands of jute tangled together are reminiscent of her relationship intricate relationship with her mother, her drawings (graphite on paper) attempt to develop images through intertwined lines and forms that have graduated from two dimensional surface areas to three dimensional works.

Hasija says, "This process of art making grants me a maternal relationship with the art object that mimics the relationship that I have with my own mother.
"It is the act of weaving through relationships- those which are mine and those which I create, that gives me a secure yet dual sense of self."

The exhibition is the beginning of an autobiographical journey through which the artist will attempt to find herself.
With a major focus on her own life journey as an adopted child, the work tends to express an identity rooted in nature.
"It is the duality of relationship between me and my mother that I try to reflect through these drawings and sculptures," says Hasija.
Although her works are different from one another in their medium and form, the artist has attempted to unify the two. In her sculptures, she has particularly used jute to depict the growth from her birth identity to the knowledge of an adoptive identity.

"Jute serves as a dual metaphor for the identity of my mother and my sense of residing within her. Its earthly origin and raw nature makes it culturally relevant to me. The length of the jute is also symbolic of the sari which is worn regularly by my mother that I associate with her from my childhood years," says Hasija.
By using three different forms of jute - natural, dyed and a combination of both, she has attempted to refresh her childhood memories.
"The relevance of dyeing every single strand of jute in a mixture of milk and turmeric refers to a fond memory that my mother and I shared during my adolescent years.

"My mother would insist on applying a face pack of turmeric and milk everyday after school in an attempt to cure sunburn. It was a cherished moment of bonding between us," she says.
The exhibition is set to continue till May 31.