Apah, Set of Three

The Story

Apah is Sanskrit for the waters. In the Vedas the waters are the source from which all life flows, and this work holds three small landscapes on a cobalt ground, made to hang together as one: pale linen islands, green couched shorelines, fields of knots and chain loops, and a single gold beaded thread that wanders through each panel and seems to carry on into the next.

Sarit, a flowing river, bends a pale linen channel back on itself, edged with grey beads and a green couched bank, through fields of pink knots and mint chain loops and a dark beaded pool. Kunda, a sacred pool, sets two linen pools within a cobalt sea, dotted with small clusters of turquoise beads and surrounded by a white thread net, a band of red stitch and a green couched shore. Spanda, vibration, lets linen shapes float loose on the cobalt, ringed with grey beads as if carried on a current, among fields of pink cross stitch, red dashes, white chain loops and a fine white net. Worked at eighteen inches so the hand stays close, each surface reads at arm's length, and together the three read as one stretch of water.

Apah is Plate VIII of the Abstract Collection, created under the artistic direction of Shantnu Sihag Dhul, trained at Istituto Marangoni and Rubelli Venice. Each artwork is entirely hand embroidered, and the intricacy of materials and technique means no two pieces can ever be truly identical. Every artwork carries its own character, impossible to replicate exactly by hand, and is accompanied by a signed Certificate of Authenticity.