For artist Neeraj Patel, an abandoned factory is more than a decaying structure. It is a record of labour, memory and the passage of time. In his latest solo exhibition, ‘Exposed Spine’, Patel links these themes using large handwoven works made with paper, wool, bamboo silk, jute, cotton, and industrial rope to reimagine industrial landscapes.
On view at Nature Morte's Dhan Mill gallery until July 26, the exhibition marks Patel's third solo show with the gallery. Created during the JR Residency by Jaipur Rugs, the show brings together contemporary art and traditional craftsmanship through a year-long collaboration with artisan communities across Rajasthan.
Patel says the residency gave him a chance to rethink his materials and the way he creates art. "My practice has always explored how materials are transformed while carrying traces of their previous lives. Textile was never my primary medium, but with his collaboration, I extended my practice into a completely new language," he tells TMS.
The artist began by immersing himself in every stage of rug making, spending nearly eight months understanding the entire production process — from sourcing yarn and dyeing to weaving and finishing. "Just turning my paintings into rugs was not what I wanted. I wanted to experience every stage of that process," he adds.
Documenting transition
Over the last few years, he has photographed abandoned factories, ruined industrial landscapes and redeveloped urban sites, observing how cities transform over time. Those photographs would then be turned into CAD (Computer-Aided Design) drawings, paintings or sculptural works.
"What interests me is the transition—how an industrial landscape disappears, how communities take over that space and how memory remains even after everything has changed," he says.
During the residency, Jaipur Rugs took Patel through factories, production units, villages, and artisan homes across Rajasthan. The experience exposed him to two contrasting worlds.
"On one side were large textile industries driven by machinery, repetition, and efficiency. On the other were artisans working from their homes, where everything happened through human touch and inherited knowledge. That contrast stayed with me and became part of this exhibition," he explains.
Hence, the exhibition brings these ideas to life through a series of textile works inspired by industrial architecture and the process of weaving.
‘Endless Horizon I’ is a large-scale textile piece crafted from a blend of wool and bamboo silk. Rendered against a black background, the rug’s centre features an intricate drawing of a vast factory interior — delineated in golden-yellow, white and red. By utilising silk lines that catch the light against the dense, matte wool background, the piece creates a subtle, glowing dimension.
On the other hand, ‘Stratified Ruin’ is a three-dimensional textile installation that transforms the concept of a traditional rug into a hanging structure. Suspended from the ceiling, the piece is built of stepped, interlocking tiers, as if to represent industrial scaffolding. Red threads cascade around the entire structure, mimicking a loom’s warp strings.
Crafting together
For Patel, the biggest revelation was discovering that weaving operates on a completely different sense of time.
"A mark that could be made in seconds on paper required countless knots and repeated gestures to take shape. Witnessing that transformation fundamentally altered my perception of drawing," he says.
The artist regularly travelled to the artisans' homes, where many have looms installed so they can continue weaving while managing household responsibilities. Meeting their families gave him a deeper understanding of their lives and work, and of the artisans' knowledge of materials, which he says comes from years of hands-on experience rather than formal education.
Some of the pieces in the exhibitions are the result of Patel’s collaborative work with the artisans; some works are entirely done on his own.
The exhibition also incorporates materials rarely associated with traditional rugs such as industrial ropes, recycled plastic and machine-made threads — to evoke the textures of steel, concrete and abandoned machinery.
The question of authorship
While the concepts originated from his drawings, Patel says the final works belong equally to the artisans whose decisions, suggestions and technical knowledge shaped the finished pieces.
“The weavers are my collaborators whose contributions are integral to the work,” he notes. “The pieces emerge through a shared process in which artistic intention and artisanal knowledge continually inform one another. The decisions, interpretations and skills of the artisans have informed the final form of the work."
The exhibition also raises broader questions about preserving traditional craftsmanship at a time when machine-made production is becoming increasingly common.
While machines enable mass production, he says they cannot replace the craftsmanship and knowledge that artisan communities have built over generations. He argues that traditional methods of making need to be preserved and passed on, adding that art and collaborations such as this exhibition can play an important role in keeping these skills and craft traditions alive.