Sarah Navqi

Yatra

A “Mata ni pachedi” is a piece of cloth that constitutes the temple of a goddess. Also known as the “kalamkari” (a hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile), it owes its similarity to this technique practiced in Southern India. Mata ni pachedi (literally translates to “behind the mother goddess”) originates from the nomadic Vaghari community of Gujarat who, upon being barred from entering Hindu temples, made their own mobile shrines with depictions of the Mother Goddess on cloth. Today, this sacred art form is universally revered and used in decorating temples and shrines with narrative illustrations of religious stories. Conceived by Sarah Naqvi with master pachedi craftsman Chandrakanth Chitara, the work Yatra deals with the Ram Leela procession, which is a staged re-enactment of the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana, through the Muslim neighborhoods of Ahmedabad, India. Hindu nationalist groups have long used the procession to stir communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims in a city infamous for its violent religious riots. The work examines this moment of tension and the layered histories it embodies.