LOOM OF LIFE, TEXTURES OF TIME

Priyansha Jain traces the deep weave of Monika Correa’s journey.

- Priyansha Jain

The first object that catches my eye in Monika Correa’s flat on Nepean Sea Road occupies a chunky part of the living room. The horizontal loom has been part of the space that has doubled as her studio for over fifty years.

It was in 1962, while accompanying her husband, the famous architect Charles Correa, to Boston that Monika stopped over in Finland. Charles had a four month-long teaching stint at MIT. It was this trip that set her on a journey that would define her life. She had been enthralled by the ryijy, traditional Finnish tufted rugs, that she had seen at a weaver’s workshop in Helsinki. Monika was keen to learn weaving and through György Kepes, a painter and professor at MIT, she got a chance to meet Marianne Strengell, one of the most noteworthy mid-century textile designers. Strengell had recently retired as head of the Cranbrook Academy’s esteemed textile department after teaching for over 20 years. She decided to take Monika under her wing.

Fast forward to 2013. Weaving can be taxing on the shoulders and the back. Monika (b. 1938) had been working quietly but consistently. Thanks to the insistence of her husband and the persuasive powers of gallerist Shireen Gandhy, she spent three years creating a new body of seminal work that was presented as a solo at Chemould Prescott Road. The aging loom was being resurrected.

Homage to Kepes (2012) was one of the 34 works exhibited at the show. It was bold and stark, and the luminous colours were reminiscent of Rothko’s canvases. The weaves not only expressed a gratefulness to Kepes but also brought together two features of Monika’s journey as a weaving artist. The fuchsia loop piles mined the flourish of Finnish long-tufted tapestries and explored the desire to further plumb the medium; the central orange and red meandering weaves expressed the dynamic frames cape of memories in a technique she had cultivated over time.