From the interdisciplinary series, we are opposite like that, 2017-ongoing
A set of two Ikats in ahimsa silk and organic cotton, produced in Andhra Pradesh by master artisan Gajam Govardhan
408 x 60 cm (each)


These two Ikats belong to a series of tapestries, displaying the sound of ice crystals smashing into each other and the various histories of pirates, South Asians, “freaks, and exotic others” at the poles. The silk-cotton tapestry is woven in an ikat weave, which is traditional but embodies the glitchy, digital nature of alien sightings at the poles. The color combination invokes the colonial histories of indigo, the peaceful resistance of Gandhian handlooms, and the archaeological connotations of terracotta. The fabric was woven by artisans in the region of Andhra Pradesh using non-violent silk.

Himali Singh Soin is a writer and artist based between London and Delhi. She uses metaphors from outer space and the natural environment to construct imaginary cosmologies of interferences, entanglements, deep voids, debris, delays, alienation, distance, and intimacy. In doing this, she thinks through ecological loss and the loss of home, seeking shelter somewhere in the radicality of love. Her speculations are performed in audio-visual, immersive environments. Her almanac ‘we are opposite like that’, comprises missing paraphernalia from polar archives, false philosophies, unreliable observations from the ship, love letters, ekphrastic poems, and made-up maps. It marks the culmination of the eponymous interconnected body of work (since 2017) exploring the uninhabited parts of the Arctic and Antarctic circles, and their uncanny bearing on the rest of the world.

*1987 in Delhi, India | Living and working in Delhi, India and London, United Kingdom