Medium - Mixed media on canvas, incorporating acrylic painting, textile art, collage, embroidery, appliqué, traditional rakhi threads, wooden beads, and dimensional embellishments.

Dimensions - 4 x 6 feet

Description of Artwork:  A Collaborative Community Mantle

Created by eight artists from the Fremont Art Association in partnership with the Indian American Artists Association (IAAA), Indigo Kinship is a collective expression of cultural heritage, community, and our shared responsibility toward the natural world.

The mantle brings together eight distinct artistic voices through painting, hand-dyed textiles, collage, embroidery, and intricate surface embellishments. Elephants, sacred symbols, traditional motifs, landscapes, and celestial imagery unfold across a palette of deep indigo, vibrant blue, gold, and white.

Each panel tells its own story, reflecting the artists' individual experiences, traditions, and visual languages. Together, they form a tapestry of belonging, where differences are not erased but stitched into a unified whole.

Created for the Great Elephant Migration, Indigo Kinship extends the idea of community beyond human boundaries, honoring the connections between people, cultures, elephants, and the natural world.

The mantle celebrates artistic collaboration while reminding us that coexistence begins with recognizing our kinship with all living beings.

Artists

Bhavna Misra
Carol-Ann Koch-Weser
Charmaine Hussain
Hetal Anjaria
Katina Laib
Mary Bobik
Tetiana Taganska
Vidya Pradhan