When creation of art becomes a meditative process and when care is given to every detail by the artists. Then the artwork transforms into a reflection of a culture, history of a place and the natural essence of the land. While producing works one should always think about the ecological impact the process carries with it.

Thus we reached Munnar, a hilly town in the Western Ghats mountain range in the southern state of India i.e Kerala.

There lies Shristi Charitable Trust between the vast tea plantations of Munnar. They are dedicated to the rehabilitation and generation of sustainable livelihoods for the differently abled children and young adults of the rural plantation community of Munnar. These welfare institutes engage their creativity, creating handmade products while adopting sustainable production methods by recycling, up-cycling and using natural materials.

Their Natural dye house named Aranya Natural, established in 1994, dyes textiles produced by weavers across Indian natural dyes collected from plants and sourced from native sources. The artists enrich the fabric with block prints, tie & dye, eco printing and shibori techniques.

The forests of Munnar are the source of their intriguing colours, providing the palette of colours used to paint from in the dye making process. The process
is driven to recycle, up-cycle and adopt ethical and sustainable methods while creating. The dye sources include Indigo, Pomegranate shells, Kadukka or Catechu, Manjistha, Tea waste, Eucalyptus leaves, Eupatorium or Nilagiri Kozha, Mulberry leaves, lemon grass, Turmeric, Marigold flowers etc. But Our needs and our approach were different from what they used to produce. It was not to create textiles rather it was to create Art pieces.

Hashel Al Lamki, contemporary artist from AbuDhabi wanted to create 9 panels of dyed fabric which had dimensions from 4m to 5m in height and around 55 inches in width.

The fabric selected was Pure flat chiffon. It is a lightweight fabric. It drapes well and has a shimmery and sheer appearance. Under a magnifying glass it resembles fine net or mesh,Which gives it transparency. It is claimed to have originated from China and it reached the middle east through the silk route, then to Europe from where a finer fabric that we see today was first produced. Chiffon is made from silk and it has a lustrous appearance.

The visual references for the dying 9 sheets of chiffon are inspired from Hashel Al Lamki’s Paintings.

In the initial production process we are using lac and Indigo as dyes. Lac is a natural dye that comes from the resin secreted by the female lac insect, Laccifer Laca. It produces reds, burgundies, purples, scarlets and crimson.
The artisans at srishti use various techniques like bundle dyeing, tie & dye and eco printing using leaves and flowers collected from the natural surroundings of the locality.

Flowers have been deeply connected with the history of cultures around the planet. Blooming of flowers is a birth process which connects the cycle of nature. It has been situated as a major part in religions, ceremonies and ritual all over. It plays as a pathway between reality and divinity. Various emotions get expressed through flowers like love, romance, celebration, grieving, death. They have been there in our cultural and social ecosystem for a long time.

The Flowers used in the eco-printing processes of the panels are collected from the temples and shrines of ‘devi’, the goddess and shiva. Were the artisans and most of the tea plantation workers devote themselves to. Apart from florals, tea leaves, pine leaves and eupatorium leaves. The ecoprinted fabrics are dyed in sappanwood. The pink color is extracted from the barks of the sappanwood tree.

For the dyeing process various pigments are extracted from different natural origins like, yellow from dried pomegranate peels, pink from Lac insect excretion, red from Madder root, blue from indigo leaves extract and beige from Tea waste.

Artisans worked on our dying process are Sreekala, Kalavathy, Mallika, Arumugham, Rama lekshmi, Designer- Krishnendu Sarath and Manager of Shristi Aranya Natural Manoj Kumar.