Kate Just, THE AADAMBAR STRIVADI QUILT
Sanskriti Art Gallery
Sanskriti Kendra, New Delhi
2016
The Aadambar Strivadi (Kitsch Feminist) Quilt was created on a 2016 Asialink residency at Sanskriti Foundation in New Delhi, India. It takes the form of a memory quilt or travel quilt comprised of detailed hand stitched fragments of text and image onto brightly coloured and heavily patterned Indian fabrics sourced in local markets. The wall hanging comprises a kitsch tapestry of India, with a humorous and celebratory focus on the queer and feminine. To make the quilt, I collected images and stories of my own and those of others I met on my travels. I juxtaposed these with images and texts from Indian women activists, poets and artists. Included in the quilt are references to Hindu goddesses, transgender rights, texts gleaned from bride ads in local newspapers, advertisements for women’s health tonics and women run taxi companies, as well as slogans and signs from Delhi’s 2016 Queer Pride event. Haptic and textured, the quilt narrates my personal experience of India.
-Kate Just