Join us for a Dialogue, ‘The Risha: History in a Narrow Weave’ with Aratrik Dev Varman, Jisha Unnikrishnan, and Dr Naman P. Ahuja.

DETAILS:
Date: 14 August 2024 (Wed)
Time: 6.30 pm onwards.

Registration link: https://forms.gle/5z4cUNEeNNCZ8ALQA

The risha is a narrow breastcloth woven on the loin loom by women from the 19 or so tribes of Tripura. Once an everyday piece of clothing, the risha slowly became a special garment worn on special occasions. The authors, Aratrik and Jisha, discuss the history of this unique textile and its cultural significance across the region. Through detailed documentation of the practice within village spaces and the royal court, the authors weave a glimpse of the multitude of textile traditions from the North-Eastern region of India.

Aratrik Dev Varman is the founder and lead designer of Tilla, an Ahmedabad-based design studio and clothing label. Originally from Agartala, Tripura, he is a textile design graduate from the NID, Ahmedabad. His work focuses on craft revival—repurposing vintage embroideries and recycling textile waste from his studio into large-scale artworks. The studio practises a multi-disciplinary approach to design, with recent projects including interiors and tableware.

Jisha Unnikrishnan is a designer and an illustrator at Tilla, Ahmedabad. A postgraduate in textile design from NID, she has worked with the institute on a research project documenting the textile traditions of India’s north eastern states under the aegis of the IGNCA, New Delhi. Her other work includes craft documentation and illustrations for the book, Crafts of Uttarakhand, a project helmed by the Uttarakhand Handloom and Handicraft Development Council.

Dr Naman Ahuja is Professor of art history at JNU and the General Editor of Marg. He specialises in the historic foundations of the aesthetic milieu of South Asia as it came to be formed between 300 BC and AD 600. His work —both scholarly as well as for the wider public— has been variously translated into Hindi, Marathi, French, Spanish and Dutch.

Established in 1946, Marg is India’s oldest continuously published magazine of art and culture. Their publications are a repository of invaluable documentation of Indian and South Asian art.

Venue: Arthshila Ahmedabad
2-G, opposite Ahmedabad Management Association, Panjrapol, Ambawadi – 380015.