Khadi 2021
In the year marking the 90th anniversary of Gandhi’s historic visit to Darwen, Khadi is an ambitious new installation by Bharti Parmar in collaboration with Sima Gonsai comprising archival images of the Mahatma’s visit, artefacts from Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery and delicate drawings and sculptures made from khadi paper.
Khadi refers to homespun cloth promoted by the Mahatma as a protest about English rule in India. It also refers to a thick cotton watercolour paper made by hand in India. Parmar has sourced Khadi paper from India, made from recycled cotton t-shirts, to reveal themes of global connections and fast fashion.
In the accompanying film, Sima unfolds her father’s migration story from Surat to Blackburn, revealing history of working in Indian Mill, Darwen, to becoming the first South Asian textile lecturer at Blackburn College. This short film gives an intimate view of cotton through labour, protest and colonialism.
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Directed by Sima Gonsai
Artwork by Bharti Parmar
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Bharti Parmar, as part of the British Textile Biennial 2021
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Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery 1st October – 18th December 2021
Craft Council Gallery - Cotton: Labour, Land and Body - Sept 2022 - March 2023
Indian Art Fair 2023 - New Delhi presented by Uthra Rajgopal
