Re-Route engages with the lingering afterlives of colonial extraction, tracing how dislocated histories continue to structure ecological and social realities. It makes use of grafting both as method and metaphor to underscore disembodiment as a tool of colonial subjugation. Through forms reminiscent of bones and branches, grafting here shapeshifts from a gardening technique into a figure for the forced, abrupt imperial transplantation of people, plants and cultures. From these histories of circulation, displacement emerges as a shared condition that foregrounds links between colonial pasts and imperial presents, embedded within hierarchies of land, labour and value.
The work responds through an alternate framework, employing an embodied approach in making, where slow repetitive hand movements generate reflection, memory and connection. Countering industrial speed and disposability, here stitching and weaving become rituals of gathering and mending fragmented worlds through the patient labour of repair. Echoing traditional Indian narratives associated with ancient grains, it evokes fertile ground to restore balance where the empire once took root. Proposing care and interdependence as possible modes of engagement with the natural world, Re-Route becomes a call to remember our ties to the land.
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