b. (1994)
Akshata Mokashi is a textile artist who weaves her painted imaginations into tapestries. She completed her BFA (Textile design) from Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai and her MA (Fashion and Textiles) from Heriot Watt University, Scotland. Her passion for landscapes and observational drawings around nature found expression in the form of tapestry weaving. Mokashi’s practice goes beyond the boundaries of weaving on a handloom to finding non-traditional and non-classical surfaces for weaving. She often creates her surfaces and embeds her weaves simultaneously giving her tapestries multiple layers of visuality and meaning. Her compositions find inspiration in the forces of nature which she juxtaposes with human interventions. Her process is very intuitive, flowing with the medium. Recently, Akshata has been probing into the rivers’ flows through cities and the urbane implications on its ecological synergy, working the layers and waves of water through her weaves.
Akshata has worked as a designer and researcher at various spaces, including Peepul Tree, Mumbai, Live History India, Mumbai (2021), Journeys in Design, Edinburgh and Revier Embroidery, Scotland (2019). She has been part of numerous workshops and projects such as Tactile artworks for MAP, Bangalore, Inclusive Textiles, for visually impaired, UK, Warp and Woof, CSMVS, Mumbai and Art village, Karjat. Her works have been part of many exhibitions and have won a number of awards. She has been part of the Space Studio Residency, Vadodara (2022). The artist currently works from her studio in Mumbai.