Gallery Vayu, in collaboration with utsaco, presents Threads that Bind: The Kantha Project, a new exhibition curated by Amit Vijaya. It is On view from March 11 to 20, 2026, at Gallery Vayu, Lodhi Road. The show brings together textile artworks that reimagine the traditional craft of kantha as a site of contemporary artistic and philosophical inquiry.
Far from being seen merely as decorative embroidery, the exhibition revisits kantha as an intelligent, reflexive act of making. Kantha as rooted in the domestic histories of Bengal, where women reworked worn textiles into layered objects of warmth. In this reframing, kantha becomes both heritage and metaphor: a slow, thoughtful response to a world driven by speed and disposability.
The Exhibition on Kantha
The show is positioned within broader global conversations on material reuse and sustainable design. Threads that Bind situates kantha alongside indigo and resist dyeing, pojagi from Korea, Japanese boro and sashiko. Together, they illuminate the shared cultural grammars of repair, continuity, and tactile wisdom that shape traditional textile practices across geographies.
The exhibition spans fashion, textile art, and home design, featuring sarees and quilts by Weavers Studio, textile works by Amrich Designs, home pieces by utsaco, and limited-edition kantha jackets by Mahua Natural Fabrics. Select works will also be available for purchase at Vayu: Design for Living during the exhibition period.
Adding a participatory layer, a live quilt-making installation will evolve throughout the ten days of the show, inviting visitors to contribute their own stitches — transforming the gallery into a collective space of making, mending, and shared authorship.
Through Threads that Bind, kantha emerges not only as a legacy of craft but as a living, breathing practice that connects material care with cultural continuity and collective creativity.
Exhibition Details
Dates: March 11–20, 2026
Time: 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM (open all days)
Venue: Gallery Vayu, 14 Main Market, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
