Priya Ravish Mehra was born in Najibabad, where she was fascinated by the art of ‘rafoogari’. She soon studied textiles and tapestry around the world. In 2018, she passed away, due to terminal cancer. Her work shines a light on the unacknowledged craft and her work is nothing short of uplifting.
Her metaphorical oeuvre narrates the experience and process of healing. Once a cloth is ‘rafooed’, it leaves an aberration - a representative of the highs and lows of human life. She attempts to bring visibility to the imperfect nature of a once ‘torn’ existence.
She believed in the Vedic concept of ‘Ṛta’- signifying the cosmic order and truth. Her artwork is embedded with her truth, bringing an existential order to an otherwise destroyed textile. This indicates a symbiotic relationship between two different entities; a metaphor for healing wounds.
Through the use of discarded materials and rubble, she revives them with the threads of her past; giving voices to the sidelined. She has often used plants, natural fibres and leaves, placing them onto paper pulp. Enthralled by the notion of symbiosis, her work reminds us of the relationship between the natural and man-made - a collation of the existential and the transcendental.