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At Home in Brooklyn

Nikita Shah

January 17, 2025 was the first public display, exhibition and launch of At Home in Brooklyn, a Kalamkari story cloth; which brought to life the culmination of a year-long effort with several dozen hands who contributed to this piece.


A journey of the birth of this cloth:

L-Train, Kalamkari, Nikita, 2022
L-Train, Kalamkari, Nikita, 2022

A few months into moving to the United States I was on the L-train from Manhattan to Brooklyn where I first felt at home. Clad in a sari, I saw people on the train who dressed, looked "differently" and I knew, if I stayed in this city - it would be Brooklyn. In 2022, I got my little home-studio and made this Kalamkari. Since then Kalamkari has become many facets of my work. Visual art, design, research, teaching and gathering community.


After over a year of hosting Kalamkari workshops in my studio, I felt the need for it to leave my space and make it accessible to others - race, class, age. I was awarded the Brooklyn Arts Fund in 2024 which gave me the means to open these workshops to different communities. I found community centers and spaces that were ADA accessible.


After reaching out to many spaces in Brooklyn to offer these Kalamkari workshops - the Brooklyn Community Pride Centre (BCPC) in Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights (1) and GRIOT Circle (2) were the one's who welcomed this project with open arms - resonating with story-telling, craft and Kalamkari as a tool to support Queer residents.


In the Spring and Fall of 2024, Kalamkari workshops were held at the BCPC and at the GRIOT Circle:


Once the particpants had the skill and had learnt the technique, story-circles were held in collaboration with Dr. Tara Brooke Watkins (3), where she led everyone in a circle to bring our stories of a particular theme. In this case the guiding question was: What makes Brooklyn Home? Through performance, written as well as visual exercises participants came down to a memory, moment, essence of what they wanted to write with Kalamkari:



In the winter of 2024, participants came and Kalamkari'ed on a large cloth, where they picked a space and wrote, illustrated their story:

Process of Communally writing the story cloth

The cloth has stories from young migrants who have moved 5 months ago, to 79 year old elders who were born and raised in Brooklyn. The stories show how local deli's, stray cats, mom & pop stores, banging pots during COVID became symbols of belonging. How seniors have witnessed Brooklyn’s evolution; how different races and classes unite over mozzarella sticks and marigolds; or how for some, home simply means friends gathered together on a couch in a neighborhood where people know and help each other; and how the land, the history of Brooklyn lets one simply "be".


Showing the story cloth in process
Showing the story cloth in process

Once, all the participants wrote their panels, I made a map of Brooklyn - which shows the neighborhoods, scale, the land, geography of the borough. This map is surrounded by a poem of my journey of finding home. The map is dyed in madder, so are the strips of text under every participants' panel.


At home in Brooklyn - A Kalamkari story cloth
At home in Brooklyn - A Kalamkari story cloth



Some of the makers with the story cloth
Some of the makers with the story cloth

Unlike traditional Kalamkari story cloths, where a single artist illustrates the entire narrative, At Home in Brooklyn is the first ever communal story cloth. Through this collaborative process I have wanted to honor the unique “handwriting” of each storyteller and emphasize the belief that everyone should have the chance to tell their story in their own words—here, through Kalamkari. 


The joy of the high participation and the positive response to the project and its reception is one side of the story, but the journey and its culmination has given me more grounding, allowing me to truly embrace the power of community. My hope is to take these stories further and eventually find a permanent home for this piece in public space. In the hope that these voices always live out in the world.


 

(1) Brooklyn Community Pride Centre: https://www.lgbtbrooklyn.org/

(2) GRIOT Circle: https://griotcircle.org/

(3) Dr. Tara Brooke Watkins: https://www.tarabrookewatkins.com/


All materials for the Kalamkari workshops have been provided by KalamCreations: https://kalamcreationsofficial.com/

Graphics and Photos by: https://ruafza.com/


Brooklyn ArtsFund (BAF) is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs(DCLA) (@nyculture), administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (@bkartscouncil)




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