Before we even begin interacting with a person, our notions about their gender identity and class status are conveyed through their clothes.

While the thread creating the fabric may remain the same, our judgment differs depending on a person’s attire. Karmakar tries to dissect these notions by drawing or painting each thread of a fabric individually.

In the series Layer on Layer 2.0 (2024), Karmakar illustrates a set of minimalist drawings inspired by the weaving process. Breaking down the process of spinning the raw material to create yarn, the bobbin winding and warping of yarn, arranging of the wraps on the looms, and weft winding of the yarn followed by the threads connecting with design frames are the basic forms which he illustrates through lines. Through the work, he attempts to understand how the attributes of class difference can exist in a spool of thread.

The work Emeritus (2024), presents us with the dialogues and notions of a Gamcha, a traditional cotton cloth. A word of Bengali/Assamese origins, Gamcha literally means ‘to wipe the body’. For Karmakar, Gamcha is not just a piece of cloth. The memories related to the fabric catalysed and shaped his art-making practice.

Inspired by the roadside shops selling various kinds of handkerchiefs, the series Untitled (2024) presents the hanging cotton rumals as an element of the everyday living of the common man. A metaphor for the mundane daily life, the artist aims to initiate the dialogues created through the fabric and the politics of clothes.

Exploring the forms of tension and discrimination instigated by class insecurity created through our attires, in the installation Andekhi Dastaan (2022) the artist dwells deeper into his research of textiles and their undertones. A collection of 6 bioscopes with reels created by drawings, paintings and images from popular cultural references, the interactive installation invites the viewers on a nostalgic yet confrontational journey of gamcha as a traditional textile and its history, journey, social, political and religious associations and current influence.

By drawing only the attires in the series Shades of Costumes (2022), the artist showcases our own biases and judgments. The pieces of garments expose our social backgrounds. The pseudo realities created through social media are an example of the ‘costumes’ we wear. Karmakar highlights how our attires reveal so much more about us before we even have a chance to interact with them.

Employing the textural element of the Gamcha, in the series Behind the Screen (2023-24), Supriyo satirises the use of cloth to conceal the harsh and ‘unpresentable’ images in our surroundings. What are we really hiding behind these ‘screens’? As recently seen in an event, neighborhoods across the country were hidden with banners to conceal the realities of Indian life. The artist mocks our tendency of just putting a surface-level cover on our lived realities with mundane or pleasant images.

The exhibition attempts to anatomize the textile and deconstruct how a piece of cloth can be used to reveal or conceal aspects of our lives. The hierarchies created by the politics of clothes are responsible for different standards of living and partial against those belonging to lower and middle-class sections. The realities of our preconceived judgments and notions are highlighted through various media and images.

- Siddhi Shailendra

Supriyo Karmakar

Supriyo Karmakar(b. 1991) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Kolkata, India. An art practitioner and educator, he completed his BFA from IKSV, Khairagarh and MFA from the University of Kalyani, West Bengal. His core practice is drawing and painting, he also works on collaborative research-based projects, kinetic sculpture, performance and video art. After completing his post-graduation he has participated in residences such as “Kala Setu” at Utsha Foundation for Contemporary Art, Kalakriti Art Residency, Hyderabad. He has been involved in several art projects like “Visible and Invisible Line,” “Wave of the City” at Kochi Muziris Students Biennale 2018, a Collaborative project with artist Niroj Satpathy at FICA Reading Room in 2019, ‘Black on Black’ organised by “Philosophy Unbound” at JNU, Delhi. He is the recipient of several grants and awards such as the Khoj Support Grant 2020, Pandemic as Portal Art Grant, One Shanti Road 2021, and Sarala-Basant Kumar Birla Award at Birla Academy of Art and Culture 2023.