At a time when the world is being ravaged by wars, hunger, poverty and greed for money and power, it is easy to forget the principles of ahimsa that the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, so passionately believed in.

Why go beyond the borders? The debilitating condition of human life can be witnessed right here in our country. Shocking rates of rape and molestation incidents in the country are a dangerous reflection of how patriarchal values in our society threaten the free existence of women. The love of the kursi has resulted in massive swindling of the hard-earned money of the aam aadmi by politicians. The very concept of non-violence, tolerance, peace and harmony, which were our pillars of strength during Gandhi’s time, has ceased to exist in the 21st-century India.
In these troubled times of today, artist Shelly Jyoti will attempt to bring back the Gandhian philosophy of sarvodaya and swadharma on artworks in azrakh textiles. Her solo show in New Delhi, titled “Salt: The Great March”, will explore salt as a symbol of non-violence and will investigate the sarvodaya theory in the practice of peace and ahimsa through the narrative of swadeshi politics. The exhibition will feature a large site-specific installation of khadi fabric, a sculptural installation of khadi yarn (aatis), 25 contemporary artworks using azrakh traditions of printing and dyeing on khadi fabric, needle-crafted by women, and multi-media spoken poetry presentation.
Jyoti’s works draw upon the history of India’s colonial past and Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March of 1930, which began the “salt satyagraha” and became an important part of the Indian Independence movement. According to Gandhi, modern societies could become genuine, moral communities only if the duty of citizenship was duly adhered to. This forms the basis of Jyoti’s new suite of works, which is in continuation to her previous Indigo: Neel Darpan series. Neel Darpan (1860) is a literary text symbolic of yet another anti-colonial, non-violence movement that took place in 1917-18 as the “champaran movement” for indigo farmers in India.
In her current show, Jyoti will explore the possibilities of establishing alternative societies where Gandhian ideals of swadharma and sarvodaya could be established through their sincere implementation. She feels that re-introducing Gandhian ideals with critical changes would function as a correctional force. “These works are in response to rape, molestation and other such problems of our patriarchal and masculinity-driven society in the 21st century. Such events are daily news today,” says the multi-faceted artist, who is also a poet and has the distinction of curating a show of traditional textiles for the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Her artworks on azrakh textiles will look into the idea of social activism propounded by the Gandhian philosophy of sarvodaya, which means uplift for all. The march towards salt becomes symbolic of self-discipline and self-limitation of human wants for communal harmony and moral society. “I am investigating that art through the concept of sarvodaya when intervened with social issues that are destabilising the social fabric in our lives — can swadharma become a movement for the upgrade of societal values? What are the implications of involving art with its audiences where corrupt and corroded human values erode the strength of the societies?”
Jyoti’s works have been done in collaboration with azrakh artisans of Bhuj, with whom she has been working since 2009. “My aesthetic decisions regarding this textile printing and dyeing technique are informed by elaborate textile processes that go into creating an artwork. To enhance the textile art, I have further used traditional needle craft technique with sujni and nakshi kantha (running stitch needle work) stitches belonging to eastern India, primarily done by Hindu women dating back to the 18th century,” the artist says.
While the 25 khadi artworks with quilting technique will be displayed as hanging tapestries, and Jyoti’s self-written poetry on the relevance of the Dandi March will play in the background, the showstopper of the exhibition will be a large-scale installation titled “Integrating Khadi”, which has been made using 30 metres of khadi fabric and printed with Sanskrit calligraphy. “This concept is relevant even today from a nationalistic perspective. The expansion of the rural khadi industry has not happened due to large-scale industrialisation in the textile sector with automation and synthetic fibres. I am exploring that if all could wear khadi, could the commitment bring back the nationalistic feeling in the 21st century,” Jyoti explains.
The show will open on September 28 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts, New Delhi, and will conclude on October 20. Show timings are from 11 am to 7 pm.