Chemould Prescott Road opens `Signs Taken for Wonders` An exhibition of works by Lavanya Mani
(Artdaily.org)

Lavanya Mani harnesses traditional domestic craft techniques to explore histories, trade, social dynamics. Having researched textile techniques through her college days, her chosen medium has remained to be Kalamkari. The Kalamkari technique itself is replete with its own history and Lavanya continues to layer the fabric with her manifestations of historic and miniature references combined with contemporaneity, providing her audience with an optic of both the past and the present. “Signs taken for Wonders” is often regarded as the root of the quest for knowledge. Wonders can be extraordinary phenomena, an emotional state or a curious experience. The best-known manifestation of early modern wonder was the curiosity cabinet, often called Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer, or “wonder-rooms`. In the new body of work, Mani’s