Ashokashri’s latest work Bog women emerged whilst staying in the Outer Hebrides summer 2023; from the mysterious power she feels when cutting peats for her friend’s winter fuel and thinking what to do with bags of Harris Tweed loom waste she had been given. Multiple life-size knitted and stuffed forms were created and placed outside on the land. The undulating curves of Bog women are reminiscent of the rolling hills of Lewis and Harris. In mythology hills are often recognised to look like sleeping women, the caileach in Gaelic. Through mythic woman she wishes not to harken back to an idealised past but to convey the energy, power and re-generative qualities of the female.
Process is important.
The work develops through the interaction between idea, material and the process of making. It’s hard to say what comes first.
We can’t help but be aware of potential global catastrophe caused by humans, as people and countries prioritise their wants and stories over other peoples and the environment.
For Ashokashri it brings an occasional melancholia – suggested in the waning moon and ebb tide.
Love and respect for all others and for the environment is the sole way we will avoid destruction and give cause for hope for the future.
At other times the joy of being immersed in the Hebridean landscapes makes itself known – vast open spaces looking across to layers of hills and mountains in the distance – often masked in mist or rain, and shorelines of long sandy or rocky beaches. Echoing with past generations.
Her work is in collections in United States, Canada and the UK.
Instagram @ashokashritextiles
Website: ashokashritextiles.wordpress.com
thirteen textile group 