The Open Studio / Shreya Shukla
Shreya Shukla
Unbound Connection V
Red earth from the walls of home, stitched with a grandmother's thread
Red earth runs in rings, like water after rain on a mud floor.
In each grey-green pocket a woman bends to her work.
A pot. A rolling pin. A stone that turns.
Pale lines draw their faces in small, patient loops.
At the centre a net of stitches hangs like a pale skin.
Around it, pink shapes join hands.
The work
Shreya Shukla grew up in a rural home. She watched the women of her family use geru, a red earth pigment, to wash and decorate the walls and floors. Today geru is the ground of Unbound Connection V. Shukla adds Chikankari embroidery by hand. She uses the jali stitch and the running stitch. Her mother and grandmother taught her both. Acrylic paint brings contrast. In grey-green pools across the red, women work with pots and rolling pins.
In the artist’s words
“I watched the women in my family use geru to wash, protect and decorate our home's walls and floors. Today I use it on my canvases to keep those memories alive. My mother and grandmother taught me embroidery. Each thread on the canvas is a piece of the love and heritage passed down to me.”
- Theme
- Women, home and memory
- Material
- Geru natural pigment, Chikankari embroidery (jali and running stitch) and acrylic on canvas
- Size
- 42.06 × 59.44 × 2.5 cm
- Year
- 2026
- Edition
- 1/1 (Unique Piece)
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- University of Allahabad
- From
- Kanpur Nagar
- Code
- RC-551
