Upon walking into SURFACE, an exhibition in the walled city of Jodhpur spread across three venues, centred on Indian embroideries and surface embellishment, one is immediately struck by the echoes between the heritage architecture of the venue and the first work on display: Gurugram-based artist Sumakshi Singh's Surface as Structure: Monument as Mirage (2024). The juxtaposition of the heavy stone columns framing the entrance foyer in Achal Niwas—one of the gallery spaces hosting the showcase—and Singh's light, gossamer textile art were perhaps an apt beginning to unravelling the show’s consideration of the nature of textile and embroidery beyond fashion design and home decor. On view from January 15 - February 23, 2025, SURFACE, curated by textile curator Mayank Mansingh Kaul, is organised by the Sutrakala Foundation in association with urban regeneration project JDH, spread out in three heritage spaces around a historic stepwell in the city in Rajasthan.

Kaul, in a preview walkthrough, presents Singh's work as an opening invitation to think about "embroidery and surface embellishment at the very elemental level [of] thread" for visitors to question the present trends of embroideries and surface embellishment in India. The thread of translucency, lightness and the neutrality of white, first breached with Singh's weightless columns, continues in other works installed in the weathered spaces of Achal Niwas, in contrast to them. The lightweight panels designed by Jaipur-based textile designer Chinar Farooqui and her label Injiri underscore the underlying architectural theme within this section. Specially commissioned for the exhibition, अलंकार (Alankar) (2024) creates arches, so that the gallery almost appears as a tented structure and not defined by stone walls.

The affinities between spatiality and textile are also evident in artist Parul Thacker's The Book of the Time-Travelers of the Worlds: a Fathomless Zero (2024). Arranged in a circle within one of the rooms in Achal Niwas, it was created during a residency in the Arctic, exploring the idea of sound and silence. The white panels of the installation are embroidered with drawings of sound waves Thacker created during her residency, creating a site-specific sequence that draws on principles of sacred geometry. A dialogue between architecture and art is also evident in Ahmedabad-based textile artist Asif Shaikh's work Sacred Geometry (2020), which is in dialogue with the geometrical patterns of the window jaalis. The show seems to ask visitors to consider how textile can be architectural.

Also on display in Achal Niwas are textile and fashion designer Swati Kalsi's works, Night Breeze (2015-16) and Etch (2015-16) which add a contemporary idiom to traditional Sujuni weaving. Working with Indigenous communities in Bihar, the works bring to mind, "the conversation between something which is worn and yet not; that embodies the body without its presence. It introduces the dimension of the human body outside of just the garment," Kaul notes. This idea of the sovereignty of textile is key to Kaul's practice as a curator as he mentions in conversation with STIR. Kaul also includes other works by Kalsi that employ different embroidery techniques, again underscoring Kaul's exploration of embroidery as drawing. In these works commissioned by the Delhi Crafts Council, Kalsi collaborated with contemporary artists Prikshit Sharma and Jai Prakash to create satirical works using Himachali Chamba Rumal embroidery.

Within the second venue—Anoop Singh ki Haveli—the showcase shifts focus to celebrate the community-oriented nature of embroidery and weaving, including practices informed by indigenous and nomadic ways that continue to be developed today. The textiles in this space are vibrant and brimming with life, telling stories of the places they were created in. The space features works by local communities in collaboration with artists and Indian designers that hope to revive the vital traditions of these people, indicating how heritage can be taken forward and highlighting the versatility of Indian craftsmanship. Notable among the display are three ornate panels by Shrujan, a not-for-profit organisation based out of Bhuj that works with craftspeople from Kutch to revitalise their heritage.

The panels and tapestries are a reminder of how traditionally, textile art, particularly embroidery such as bagh phulkari was a communal event, with the women of the local communities coming together to sit and work on a piece of cloth, telling stories transcribed onto canvas. This aspect of storytelling is best highlighted in Porgai Artisans Associations' work in collaboration with the designer Anshu Arora and Dr Lalitha Regi. The works on display are teeming with plant life, humans and animals, opening up new fantastical worlds.

The third venue, Lakshmi Niwas, presents the most evocative of the exhibition spaces—where the displayed works question “what textile truly is”, as Kaul noted during the opening. One enters a narrow stairway to face a brilliant streak of red at the end of a seemingly dark corridor. Purposely placed to draw the visitor in, Shell (2014) by Swati Kalsi again uses Sujuni weaving, invoking a sense of femininity and feminine power, as Kaul notes. The intensity of encountering the brilliant red of Kalsi's Shell is balanced by the eccentricity and otherworldliness of artist July Ancel's work in the showcase, Lucknow VI (2024), created with artisans of Kalhath Institute. The sickly pink canvas blends Ancel's painting work with chikankari by artisans from the institute, with strange forms such as misshapen butterflies and contorted nawabs residing within the canvas frame. It is in dialogue with Shine Shivan's Kshestra Dhara (2013-2025), a work that makes use of taxidermy techniques and found object assemblages, making it perhaps the most contentious work in the exhibition, questioning the possibilities of surface embellishment.

Displayed for the first time for the exhibition, the artist worked on the monumental installation for more than 10 years, laboriously adding to the sculptural design. Chicken heads, bits of glass and marble statues are entangled within its grotesque 3 dimensional world. In conversation with STIR, he explains the installation's mythology, stating, "I created this work in a period of my life where I feel like I am detached, I have no attachment to anything. So Kshetra Dhara. ‘Kshetra’ means body. And ‘Kshetragya’ means the one who knows the world and becomes detached in the form of the soul." Each of the found objects entangled within Shivan's grim cosmos tells the story of his life, the places he has visited and the people he has met. In a similar vein Karishma Swali, founder of the Chanakya School of Craft's figurative sculpture and tapestry, Aravalli I (2024) and Aravalli II (2024) interact with the vermillion of Shell. The bright red sculpture and abstract tapestry were part of a special commission for the showcase. Its inclusion here, as a work including a woven garment that moves away from embellishment or adornment, blurs the lines between what we think of as embroidery, weaving or surface embellishment.

This fundamental inquiry is further highlighted by works such as Manisha Parekh's triptych The Red (2023-24). A red ribbon runs through perforated wooden boards, three-dimensionally emphasising how thread runs through cloth, subverting the idea of cloth as a primary material of surface embellishment. The last sculpture on display ties the themes explored in the show: the architectural possibilities of fabric, the play with texture and a reinterpretation of heritage. Jean Francois-Lesage, artistic director of Lesage Interieurs’ Travelling Roots (2024), presents a vibrant red dome that takes inspiration from the Lal Dera. A luxurious velvet, tent structure owned by the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the tent is currently preserved in the Mehrangarh Museum in the city. The work harks back to Singh's suggestion of a monument in the very first venue. By underscoring the notion of textile as architecture to end the exhibition, the showcase again questions, how do we think of textiles as sovereign entities?

What began as an exploration of contemporary interpretations of heritage ends with this almost philosophical meditation on what we consider textile. As Kaul elaborates in conversation with STIR, "Today, forms of Indian contemporary textiles have achieved a high level of innovation and hand craftsmanship and are increasingly in demand. With my first exploration into embroidery for the showcase, I wanted to highlight the potential for these techniques beyond fashion or home furnishings. There was also the wish to explore contextuality, to inhabit and interpret the place.”

'SURFACE' is on view near Toorji ka Jhala in Jodhpur until February 23, 2025.