Tucked a kilometre away from the ever-rushing MGR Chennai Central Railway Station, stands the serene campus of Government College of Fine Arts, one of India’s oldest art institutions. Its corridors carry the weight of generations of artists who have passed through its studios, exhibitions, classrooms, and courtyards.
Step further in, and that quiet begins to take form. At the entrance to the exhibition space hangs a vertical banner, rising parallel to the height of the building. But as you step inside, there is almost nothing. A wide, deliberate emptiness stretches across the floor before a lone handloom comes into view. It stands at the centre, with handwoven stoles dyed in earthy tones hanging above it. This is the scene that opens to Padaam, a textile exhibition hosted by the final-year BFA students of the institution at their home ground.
“This exhibition is an event to showcase the creative works of twenty of our final-year students,” says Sipi Sakkaravarthi, a lecturer from the department of Textile Design. “In essence, the ancient Tamil word ‘Padaam’ serves as the foundational root for various forms of imagery, including films and drawings,” he adds. Tracing its origins through Sangam literature, he explains how the term once referred to decorative cloth draped over elephants — mugappadaam — to canopies. “Thus, the term originally denoted an artistic image created upon fabric,” says Sipi.
That foundational idea — fabric as image — unfolds across the exhibition.
Along the left wall, three-metre-long screen-printed fabrics reinterpret works of master artists. From Salvador Dalí to Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci, among others; familiar compositions are translated onto cloth, shifting the way they are perceived. “Observe the three-metre length of fabric hanging...it doesn’t strike you as mere cloth. If you focus on the intricate workmanship and the design embedded within it, you will automatically perceive (it) like a canvas,” says Sipi.
An effort of twenty
For the students, this translation was both exercise and exploration. Nithya draws from Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’, and has adapted it into a three-metre textile composition. “We (students) were asked to select a masterpiece by a ‘great master’ painter, instead of constantly relying on very basic motifs such as birds, flowers, or similar elements. Our lecturer suggested to try something a bit different and more unconventional,” explains Nithya.
Beyond this, her contributions extend into the “Trends and Presentation” section, where she explores a forest theme through multiple designs. “Within that single theme of the forest, I created a total of eleven different designs,” she says. “We were taught various (printing) techniques, specifically for transferring these designs onto fabric including dyeing, natural printing, hand-painting, screen printing, block printing, and more. We utilised all these diverse techniques to transform our designs into tangible, finished products.”
Across the venue, this diversity comes through. Sari borders carry motifs ranging from mythology to marine life, while sections on surface ornamentation bring together embroidery traditions from across India. Elsewhere, appliqué works, textile fibre art, and mixed-media installations extend the possibilities of fabric beyond conventional use. The exhibition also extends into varied explorations, including natural pigment paintings, functional products like bags and shirts, and experimental works such as primitive art-inspired designs.
At the centre of the exhibition, however, is a process-driven display — natural dyes. Ingredients such as myrobalan, fruit and vegetable peels, alum, manjistha, etc., are arranged alongside dyed cloth samples, each accompanied by notes detailing composition and method.
Above this display hangs a work of ‘Tamil Thai’, almost hidden within the arrangement. Explaining the intention behind it, Sipi says, “Since the world’s attention is currently focused on escaping the effects of global warming, there is a significant shift towards natural dyes and natural fibers.” He adds that they achieved substantial progress in this area by conducting extensive research.
For Anbu Palani, another student, the textile major was a turning point itself. His work, part of the “Trends and Presentation” category, centres on the gramophone. “I wanted to create something with a vintage aesthetic,” he says. “When we tried it across a wide range of mediums, the resulting outputs we obtained were incredibly diverse and distinct.” He also draws inspiration from Pablo Picasso’s ‘Head of a Woman’, resulting in a unique piece. “He (Pablo Picasso) observed each feature (of the subject’s face) from a unique perspective and different distance, and integrated all these individual observations into a single, cohesive painting,” Anbu explains.
The big picture
For Sipi, the exhibition is also a pedagogical statement. “I insisted on bringing whatever is currently trending in the field and is cutting-edge. The guiding principle was that the piece shouldn’t merely function as a garment; it had to stand as a work of art in its own right,” he says.
Challenging conventional perceptions, he notes, “When people think of ‘textiles,’ they typically associate it with mundane things, just some fabric…but in reality, textiles are not merely a craft; I define them as an art form,” adding that the exhibition “will spark a realisation: ‘Oh, so textiles actually possess these many dimensions?’”
For the students, ‘Padaam’ is more than a final-year showcase — it is a moment of articulation. A way of saying what textiles can be, and what they have discovered through it. As Sipi puts it, the intention is: “If one wishes to view and understand textiles not merely as merchandise in a fabric store, but as an art form…then the public simply must come and witness this exhibition.” And he believes in doing so, the exhibition shifts in perception where cloth is no longer just worn or used, but seen, studied, and experienced.