FRANCISCA CARVALHOThree Sisters

They happened in Sanganer, Rajasthan, northwest India, in April 2023. Each one of them is five meters long by about one and a half meters wide and is made with natural dyes on cotton fabric. The measurements are important, because they speak of the place of origin - the worktable in the warehouse workshop of Vikram Joshi, owner of the Rangotri textile factory and a connoisseur of ancient dyeing, as it was (and still is, but sparsely) practiced in various regions of India. This is the second time I have rented him a worktable to do what you see here. 

Why Three Sisters? More because of what it can mean (and acknowledging the 87/88 cartoons – “Il était une fois ... la vie”) and less for the references in literature – Chekhov and Gertrude Stein (though they do have an influence behind the scenes). Of course, this is literal – we do see three fabrics (ha! ha!) familiar to each other, coming from the same place, sharing the same elements and materials – natural dyes, vegetable fibers. We have repetition and its failures, interruptions, small differences generating unpredictable abysses in the way of being, as between sisters, “who are not sisters”. 

Francisca Carvalho is a visual artist. Her work is based on the handling of symbols (and signs) from different geographies, which she has experienced, assimilated, and digested, translating them into collages, drawings, patterns, texts, paintings, and textiles. Carvalho has a degree in painting, printmaking, and philosophy. She believes in deconstructed craftsmanship, learning curves, experimentation, skill and deskill as forms of shared freedom and self-provocation. Since 2018 she has been carrying out practical research in India on natural dyeing, kalamkari and hand block printing, especially in the regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat.