I enjoy making anything with textile materials, and recently I've been simply enjoying making things that I like.
I especially like making things that don't have a specific purpose, like the shapes and textures that appear when I touch the material...
I also cut out the moments I feel beautiful in the daily process of making fabrics in the studio, make them into the art pieces and enjoy hanging them on the wall of the studio...
Putting all of these things together, an exhibition is happening at an art gallery in North India called Art Motif.
– Chiaki Maki
4 types of pieces will be exhibited;
Yuragi | Tsunagi | Koshi | Others (Untitled, Field & Dancing Basho)
Nothing in nature stays still, and there is always irregular movement.
Just as wind, rain, and waves move irregularly, when a silkworm makes a cocoon, it spits out fibers while shaking its head.
I make threads that preserve this sway as much as possible, and weave them in a way that makes the sway of the threads into a single piece of cloth.
Double weave | Hand reeled mulberry silk and muga silk | Indigo and Pomegranate | size: 81 x 37cm
Double weave | Hand reeled mulberry silk and muga silk | Pomegranate | size: 130 x 103cm
This happens in the moment when one warp yarn is finished and the next warp yarn is connected...
it's not intentional, the action of connecting the threads so that the next warp thread can be woven properly is beautiful, and the picture of connected warp yarns is also stunningly beautiful.
A unique, painting-like shape of yarns is born that cannot be repeated.
Hand reeled mulberry silk and muga silk, Basho | Indigo and Pomegranate, Banyan bark | size: 86 x 37cm
Double weave | Hand reeled mulberry silk and muga silk | Indigo and Pomegranate | size: 153 x 105cm
Linen and Tassar silk | size: 210 x 154cm
Indigo yarns are dyed with indigo plants grown and harvested at Ganga Maki and made into mud indigo.
There are countless shades of indigo.
I simply look at the yarns and shades, and make them into a grid with the span possible.
It is important to me to use everything without leaving it behind.
These are the various grids that were made in this way.
Double weave | Hand reeled mulberry silk and muga silk, Basho | Fresh leaf indigo and Pomegranate | size: 200 x 100cm
Double weave | Hand reeled mulberry silk and muga silk, Basho | Fresh leaf indigo and Pomegranate | size: 190 x 101cm
Double weave | Hand reeled mulberry silk and muga silk, Basho | Indigo and Pomegranate, Sappun wood | size: 102 x 115cm
This is woven with bark fibers from a tree called Bhimal, which is still treasured as a useful tree in a farming village at the foot of the Himalayas, dyed with plants.
I celabrate the way of life in the village and the spirit of the trees!
Bhimal | size: 70 x 220cm
Ramie, Basho fibers grown in Ganga Maki.
Usually, the fibers are torn into thin strips, connected to make yarns, and then woven with other materials to make cloth, but one day I wanted to see what would happen if I wove the fibers as they are.
And this is the fabric I created.
Hand reeled mulberry silk and muga silk, Basho, Choma, Tassar silk, Kuzu | size: 133 x 102cm
Basho trees grown on the grounds of Ganga Maki where I live.
After harvesting at the right time and taking the fibers to make yarns, mountains of fibers that cannot be made into yarn remain.
I use these fibers to make Basho paper as old time in Okinawa people were making.
One day I wondered if I could make something three-dimensional, and when I tried making something that looked like it was dancing, I named it Dancing Basho.
Basho paper art | Basho fiber, choma, Bhimal | size: 140 x 140cm
