Lavanya Mani Indian, b. 1977
b. 1977, in Hyderabad, India
Lavanya Mani, Bangalore and Vadodara based artist, harnesses traditional Indian craft and textile techniques of kalamkari, embroidery, tie and dye, appliqué, batik etc. in conjunction with painting on cloth. Whilst re-envisioning the histories of colonial power dynamics and trade in her unique textile language, she powerfully creates a new narrative with the cloth as the storyteller. Often questioning the ideas of the ‘Orient’, she has recontextualised Victorian travellers stories through her lens of discovering dye-making. Fearlessly embracing the politics surrounding a self-taught contemporary artist using a traditionally male dominated art form of Kalamkari to create wider statements in her artistic journey, Mani continues to bring in the pertinent transition between ‘high art’ and ‘craft’ and continues to explore more.
The artist divides her time between Bangalore and Vadodara, India.
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Part 2 - Futuring | CheMoulding: Framing Future Archives
Curated by Shaleen Wadhwana | 60 Years of Gallery Chemould 15 Nov - 23 Dec 2023Futurists actively view the present world as a window to possible future outcomes. By this definition, we are all futurists. However, in reality, actively viewing the present means to confront...Read more -
Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present
7 Feb - 11 Jun 2023We are pleased to present the works of Anju Dodiya, Archana Hande, Lavanaya Mani, Mithu Sen, Nilima Sheikh, Reena Saini Kallat, Varunika Saraf and Vivan Sundaram at the Sharjah Biennial...Read more -
Modus Operandi III: Together Alone
Group Show 11 Aug - 10 Sep 2022The premise of Modus Operandi began and continues with an exhibition of Chemould's roster of artists - every iteration presents us an opportunity to exhibit them under one roof, in...Read more -
SOUTH SOUTH VEZA
Group show 24 Feb - 2 Mar 2021SOUTH SOUTH is an online community, an anthology, an archive and a resource for artists, galleries, curators and collectors invested in the Global South. In the often disputed battleground of...Read more -
Game of Chance
Lavanya Mani | In-Touch Edition IV 22 Sep - 7 Nov 2020Early versions of the board game ‘Snakes and ladders originated in India as ‘Gyan chaupar’ or ‘Game of knowledge’. Usually painted on cloth or paper, these boards were often religious...Read more -
Modus Operandi II
Group Show 18 Jul - 24 Aug 2019Synonymous with the first edition of Modus Operandi, where we brought together over 25 Chemould artists and their unique artistic language in dialogue with each other through various mediums, we...Read more -
Signs taken for Wonders
Lavanya Mani 14 Mar - 30 Apr 2019At the beginning of the 21st century, and on the brink of an ecological catastrophe of global proportions, we appear to be on the threshold of a periodical rediscovering of...Read more -
Modus Operandi
Group Show 13 Jul - 18 Aug 2018This July, Chemould Prescott Road presents Modus Operandi, a show that has been devised by Shireen Gandhy and the Chemould team, brin ging together a large number of Chemould artists...Read more -
A Summer Mix
Group Show 20 May - 15 Jul 2015Aditi Singh | Anju Dodiya | Atul Dodiya | Bhuvanesh Gowda | Desmond Lazaro | Dhruvi Acharya | Gigi Scaria | Jitish Kallat | Lavanya Mani | Meera Devidayal |...Read more -
Aesthetic Bind: Floating World
50 Years of Chemould | Group Show 19 Mar - 17 Apr 2014Among several imaginaries conjured by the Floating World, there is cosmology and a revolving earth-world; oceanic flows and cartographic representation of the globe’s topography; and an incremental growth in migration,...Read more -
In Praise of Folly
Lavanya Mani 4 - 28 Sep 2009Lavanya Mani’s body of work explores a range of perspectives on history, society, trade and craft. Using kalamkari, a centuries-old technique for dyeing and drawing on fabric, Lavanya has created...Read more
