Healing Spaces of Violence Through the Art of Stitching
Title: Weaving Stories of Survival: Spandita Malik’s “Jāḷī—Meshes of Resistance”
In the white-cube aesthetic of Robert Mann Gallery in Chelsea, New York, lies a collection of quiet revolutions sewn into cloth. Titled “Jāḷī—Meshes of Resistance,” this exhibition by Spandita Malik transcends the confines of traditional portraiture by introducing a collaborative, textile-based narrative powered by resilience, reclamation, and resistance.
Spandita Malik, a New York-based artist originally from India, intertwines photography and embroidery to create intimate portraits of women—survivors of domestic violence from North India—who turn their pain into power through art. Each piece in this exhibition is more than a visual object; it’s a shared canvas where the subject is also the creator. Malik’s technique and the voices it uplifts offer a compelling commentary on agency, trauma, and cultural legacy.
Reclaiming Narratives Through Needle and Thread
The genesis of each artwork begins with Malik photographing the women in their own homes—spaces that are paradoxically both sanctuaries and sites of past trauma. These are not passive portraits. Each participant was invited to select her pose and gaze, reestablishing agency over how she is seen and presented.
Malik then transferred these images onto khadi, a hand-spun cotton fabric symbolizing India’s independence and self-reliance. But the dialogue didn’t end there. Each photographic print was returned to the sitter, who was then asked to embroider, embellish, or otherwise modify her image using traditional textile techniques. These additions were deeply personal and varied—some women stitched over their faces, others adorned themselves with mirrors and zardozi (gold thread work), visually transforming their memory of place and self.
Three Stitches of Resistance
The works in “Jāḷī” shine not just in color and craft, but in the stitches that serve as metaphors for autonomy and healing. Each technique employed in the pieces exemplifies resistance through reclaiming heritage crafts often dismissed as mere “women’s work.”
1. Khadi and Lattice in “Jamila Bhegam” (2025)
In one standout piece, Malik captures Jamila Bhegam seated confidently in a courtyard. The subject extends the latticework behind her using embroidery techniques akin to jāḷī—from which the exhibition draws its name—blurring the boundaries between subject and setting, interior and exterior. The woman’s gaze is direct, her craftsmanship deliberate, transforming architectural motifs into personal armor.
2. Gota Patti and Zardozi in “Farhana” (2023)
Farhana’s image presents a more opulent resistance embroidered in gota patti and zardozi, embellishment styles traditionally reserved for wedding garments and ceremonies. Coated in golden thread, her body becomes the centerpiece of a radiant mesh, challenging norms that dictate when and why a woman “deserves” to shine. Her everyday existence is reframed as worthy of reverence and regality.
3. Shisha Embroidery in “Heena” (2025)
“Heena” is perhaps the most interactive of the works. Standing by kitchenware, Heena surrounds herself with floral motifs embedded with small reflective mirrors, a method known as shisha embroidery. But a larger central mirror, framed in thread where her face once was, reflects the viewer’s image. It’s symbolic and haunting—inviting us to confront ourselves in another’s story, initiating a conversation about solidarity, shared womanhood, and empathy.
Community, Not Solitude
Although named as a solo exhibition, “Jāḷī” functions far more accurately as a collaborative endeavor. Malik is not the sole artist here—she is a facilitator and enabler of a collective voice. Each participant not only consented to be photographed but actively shaped her visual legacy through embroidery, an act of co-authorship that dismantles traditional power dynamics between photographer and subject.
This collective creation speaks to a broader issue: the often invisible labor of women and the undervaluing of craft traditions. According to the exhibit, most of the techniques used were ones practiced and passed down by women across generations in South Asia. By placing these richly detailed textiles in a contemporary art gallery, Malik confronts the separation between craft and “fine art” while spotlighting domestic labor as both creative and political.
Restitching the Fabric of Domestic Space
At its core, “Jāḷī—Meshes of Resistance” is a body of work about home: its violence, its potential, its transformation. Through their stitches, these women do not merely embellish images—they reimagine the domestic space as one of strength and expression. Malik’s intervention is subtle yet profound: she merely opens the door, and through it marches a troupe of women who have turned the needle into a torchlight.
From lattice windows to golden threads to piercing mirrors, the show invites viewers into a semi