Exhibition
The exhibition “Folding Unfolding; The Achara Chronicles”, curated by Arshad Faruqui at Copper and Steel, opened on the 22nd of November 2024.

The exhibition celebrates achara, a fabric traditionally used as a base for block printing, now reimagined as a medium for artistic and spatial storytelling. By repurposing and recycling this fabric, the exhibition not only honors sustainable practices but also reects on the cyclical nature of creation. Each layer of block print on the fabric symbolizes a story, a mark and a moment in time. This exhibition brings together architects, artists, and designers, each interpreting the fabric’s layered patterns in unique ways within the courtyards of Copper and Steel. 

This collaboration between disciplines, oers diverse perspectives, bringing forth new meanings and connections. The dialogue between material and space is central to this exhibition. The courtyards of Copper and Steel serve as a canvas, where these stories unfold through installations, spaces, and experiences.

Installation
Imprints and Silhouettes
Kiran Ahmad and Saifullah Sami

Concept
As artists, we are fascinated by the rich layers of textures, motifs and colors of the achara — an unassuming material that serves as a base in the block printing process. The installation emerges as an intuitive response to the site itself, evolving through a reflective conversation. Mounted on a structure made of scaffolding — a similarly “subaltern” material — the achara, is used to delineate a space to imprint shadows at the center of Copper and Steel’s courtyard landscape.

The entire structure is inflected toward the west sun, allowing a tall blank cotton canvas to capture layered shadows of surrounding foliage. After sundown, artificial lights project overlapping shadows of the trees and plants within the structure, transforming the installation through time and light. 

An iterative process of making and unmaking materializes as a conversation between the achara and the site’s essence as a nature-filled enclave. Subaltern materials are woven in, their presence minimal yet saturated with character. Light, central to the work, animates the cloth surface with partially figured, layered shadows, creating a constantly changing achara.

This process, rooted in dialogue and reflection, invites viewers to experience the installation as an evolving conversation between material, space, and context.

Link: Imprints&Silhouettes_Installation_FoldingUnfolding_Copper&Steel_ProcessBook_22.11.2024