Friday, June 19th – 6 pm – 9 pm
Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU
8 Washington Mews, New York, NY 10001
To register click here
The South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) is pleased to present Ornate Contemplate, a one-night symposium on craft and pattern, co-sponsored by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU.

 SAWCC’s 2015 Annual Visual Arts Show, Ornate Activate, explores the use of decorative motifs, architectural elements, cursive scripts and other forms of pattern-making by artists to create and imply content. Pivoting off the conversation started by this exhibition, we are bringing together a group of artists, practitioners and scholars from various artistic disciplines to talk about pattern-making in a wider context.
Symposium Co-Chairs: Sarah Burney and Josheen Oberoi
Panel 1: Craft and Content
Featured Artists: Fariba Salma Alam, Swati Khurana and Samanta Bata Mehta
Moderator: Mahnaz Fancy, Executive Director Arte East


Craft and Content addresses the notion and employment of crafts, and culturally specific decorative elements in the making of an art object and their specific function in archiving personal history and/or social and political commentary. The featured artists Fariba Salma Alam, Swati Khurana and Samanta Bata Mehta will each give an overview of their creative practice and process before moderator Mahnaz Fancy leads a discussion, followed by an audience Q & A.
Panel 2: Pattern – 2D & Beyond
Featured Artists: Kiran Ahluwalia, Vandana Jain, and Malini Srinivasan
Moderator: Sunita Mukhi
Featuring a dance performance by Malini Srinivasan, music by Kiran Ahluwalia and a presentation by Vandana Jain, this panel considers pattern across three artistic disciplines. Moderator Sunita Mukhi will lead the artists in a discussion on the role and use of pattern in their respective work and address the question of how each of their mediums dictate the vocabulary, process and archiving of pattern. This will be followed by an audience Q & A.
The panels will be followed by a wine and cheese reception.
Reservations required. Space is limited. Register by clicking here. If you have any questions please email info@sawcc.org
Image excerpt from FORTUNE, an animation by Vandana Jain.
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