On View at Special Project Space, Museum Plaza
10:00 am - 5:30 pm
Free entry
The exhibition brings together figurative works and self-portraits that draw upon deeply felt personal narratives that inform the artist's practice. Alamu’s art can be read as a tribute to those who have touched her life. She transforms the quotidian into the remarkable in her works. The everyday is presented as heroic and made special by the artist's rich appliques and tapestries crafted out of various materials. There is a timelessness in her narratives, elevating the work to a universal register in its honouring of ordinary persons. Apart from the figurative works, Alamu also creates abstract tapestries and landscapes informed by the vagaries of nature. Her use of materials such as thread, fabric, felt, and various stitching techniques is rooted in her family heritage from Karaikudi, South India. Inspired by the intricate handwork of her grandmother and mother, who were skilled in crochet, beadwork, and various embroidery techniques, she incorporates these influences into her current works. Alamu’s creative use of various stitching and embroidery techniques recalls not only her own maternal patrimony but also a rich tradition of reclaiming creative feminine practices that were earlier relegated to the margins.
Alamu Kumaresan earned a Master in Fine Arts in painting from Madras University, Government College of Fine Arts. She has participated in the Korea Golden Jubilee of Inko, the International exchange exhibition at Busan, Korea, 2023; ‘Confluence’ Chennai Biennale 2024 organized by INKO Centre at Lalit Kala Akademi, 2024.