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Rania Shah
Tiger's Meal
“Tiger’s Meal” consists of a block-printed fabric and a ceramic tiger, installed atop a hand-batiked and dyed fabric. To create this piece, I carved images into clay slabs, alluding to block-printing techniques used to create South Asian fabrics throughout history: the motifs featured on these blocks reference “Tipu’s Tiger,” a statue of the tiger belonging to Tipu Sultan, the last-standing ruler in India before British colonization and an adamant oppositional force to imperial intervention. The original “Tipu’s Tiger” statue features the tiger eating a British officer, which I’ve also featured in my hand-carved blocks. I printed these designs atop a fabric gifted to me by my grandmother, incorporating Tipu’s Tiger into the literal fabric of my ancestry. The choice of this white textile also holds significance, as, in the 1800s, British aesthetic tastes required Indian textile artisans to create lighter, less ‘busy’ textile designs, creating the aesthetic genre that we now know as ‘chintz.’ In combining the Tipu’s Tiger motif with this colonially-influenced textile, I seek to resist the historical control of South Asian craftsmanship, while also acknowledging the influence this aesthetic has had on my family.
Below the fabric swatch, a ceramic iteration of Tipu’s Tiger climbs freely, not bound to engaging with the British officer. I included this version of the tiger to orient ourselves to a more liberated world, one in which our figures of resistance need not constantly fight, but can express themselves without restriction.
“Flagging (2)” is made of four cotton flags, printed with clay-resist paste and then dyed with turmeric. From left to right, these flags transform from an almost traditional American flag, except for Tipu’s Tiger being featured in the center of its stars, to a flag featuring only Tipu’s Tiger and traditional Gujarati textile motifs.
To create these designs, I mixed my own clay-resist paste, calling back to the historic techniques of clay-resist dyeing Indian textiles. Then, I printed the clay paste onto these flags with my hand-carved blocks, dyed the fabrics in turmeric dye as a connection to Indian natural dyeing practices, and then washed out the clay, revealing the designs beneath it. Moving from left to right, as the symbols consume the American flag, the turmeric dye becomes stronger, demonstrating the persistence of these traditions even in the face of forces that try to erase them.
In addition, the first and last flags feature embroidered Tipu’s Tiger symbols, but instead of the tiger eating a British officer, I change the figure to resemble a modern American military uniform, placing an assault rifle next to the soldiers’ bodies. Through this change, I bring the liberation symbol of Tipu’s Tiger into the American context, demonstrating the interconnectedness of the struggles against British colonialism and American imperialism. This alteration, in combination with the American flags, examines the propaganda symbols we are confronted with in our daily lives. All in all, I seek to link the erasure of Indian craft traditions with the propagation of power and injustice, regardless of whether it wears the British or American uniform.
Flagging (2)
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