As a part of Palavaka I decided to start a fabric painting session and these pictures are part of that. Even though I started this as a fund raising program for my studio later it changed into a typical art workshop and I began to see these as works of art: all the more exciting because as people wear these dresses they become moving pieces of art. I was thrilled because it gave me infinite possibilities to design and paint them. There are two distinct exhibitions connected with this.

One is ‘Aiyyayyayyo’ connected with the Chinakkathore temple festival at Ottapalam. I got an assignment to paint some apparel in connection with the festival and as I finished them I got this idea of exhibiting them at the venue. It was actually an extension to my old ‘Aakri’ exhibition where I painted the cityscapes and exhibited them on the street-side itself. Here the exhibition was near the temple in a small hut. The fun was to do the show while the whole festival was happening around me. I felt more like a hawker sitting to sell my things to the people roaming around the festival ground; a kind of unbecoming experience for my artist self.

The second show was ‘Vrischikam’ which I did at Tripunithura in connection with the temple festival there. Again the subject was the temple festival and the venue was a small abandoned building near the temple. Lots of people who came to see the festival came and many purchased my painted fabrics. It was real fun to paint the festival itself on the sarees including the participating artists, especially when they themselves came to see it!