AT FIRST glance, they appear like oil paintings, but look closer and you will find something more intricate.
At her first solo exhibition held at the KL City Art Gallery (KLCAG), Tulika Prakash showcases a collection of 26 fabric collages made from hundreds of pieces of cloth that have been cut, layered and stitched together by hand.
The 50-year-old from Bihar, India, named her collection “I Am the Universe” as her pieces reflect the human condition – different, layered and connected.
Among the guests of honour who attended the opening were Tunku Besar Seri Menanti Tunku Ali Redhauddin Ibni Tuanku Muhriz and Indian High Commission counsellor for community affairs Prateesh Kumar.
Also present were KLCAG director Maizon Omar and Tulika’s husband Prashant Kumar, the author of Made In Future, a book on digital age marketing.
Tulika, who has lived in Malaysia for 20 years now, included embroidery, silk-screen printing, digital art, painting and even dyeing to build texture and depth in her pieces.
“The work starts with digital sketches on a computer.
“After that comes the sorting of hundreds of recycled fabrics to find the right colours and textures.
“The selected pieces are ironed, cut into shapes and laid on the canvas.
“They are then moved around till the image feels balanced before they are stuck on,” she said.
Due to the complex nature of her fabric collages, they may take 20 days to three months to finish.
The exhibits include her first piece from 2022 called The First Kiss inspired by Gustav Klimt, an Austrian painter she admires for his “dreamlike” works.
“The heads of the two lovers are embroidered.
“The curls in the man’s hair, for example, are made of French knots.
“I used three different colours of threads, mixing them in one needle to create the curls,” said Tulika.
Her most detailed pieces are Ecstacy II from 2024 which features a woman in a floral skirt dancing beneath a blazing sun, and Reverence I and II.
“For Ecstacy II, the detail in the flowery skirt comes from old clothes.
“For Reverence I and II, the skies alone contain around 172 types of fabric and are made up of more than 2,500 pieces.”
The general review from the opening was that her pieces enchanted with their beauty from afar and amazed with their detail up close.
Friends and peers who have followed her journey expressed admiration, including Suparna Verma, 42, who has known Tulika for 20 years.
Suparna said Tulika, who has a career in analytics and business strategy, had kept her artistic talent well hidden.
Suparna remarked that for pieces like Ecstasy II, the hard part was not just making the collage but finding the right fabric.
“Even if you own many saree, you will still need the right colour and pattern for that one small spot,” she pointed out.
Dr Vandana Saxena, 48, who has known Tulika since 2012, said the fabrics used were once the saree or dupatta worn by friends.
“We often joke that when Tulika says she likes someone’s saree, they better hide it,” Dr Vandana quipped.
She was able to identify fabrics she had given away to Tulika and it made her proud that they had been turned into works of art.
In his speech, Prateesh said Tulika’s collection conveyed the message that “we are all part of the fabric of life”.
“They are not just pieces of fabric that have been sewn together, but fragments of living memories that have been put together to spread the message of peace and harmony,” he said.
The “I Am the Universe” exhibition ends May 31.
