Bonds of Bandhani

Name: Bonds of Bandhani
Start: 2025-10-13T17:30:00-07:00
End: 2025-10-13T19:30:00-07:00
Location: 2277 International Blvd, Oakland, CA, United States, California 94606

Schedule

Mon Oct 13 2025 at 05:30 pm to 07:30 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

2277 International Blvd, Oakland, CA, United States, California 94606 | Oakland, CA

a stipended textile series for LGBTQIA+ South Asian artists Residency Program
3 Part Series taking place on Mondays at EastSide Cultural Center.
Monday, October 13th
Monday, October 20th
Monday, October 27th
Hamesha Project is hosting its inaugural Bonds of Bandhani residency, a stipended textile series for LGBTQIA+ South Asian artists. Over the course of four weeks, the instructors (Pallavi Sarup of Hamesha Project and Dilpreet Anand) will pass down the lessons of an ancestral craft tradition. Participants will learn about South Asian textile traditions, with a specific emphasis on the tie-and-dye art of Bandhani and natural dyes. In addition, the selected artists will be taught the basics of foraging and how to extract color from California plants to use within their textile practices.
The selected artists will also be encouraged to do individual research on their own regional South Asian ancestral textile tradition, their queer ancestral lineage, and incorporate those influences into their capstone project. The capstone project will be a handmade piece of apparel that expresses their regional South Asian ancestry & personal queer fashion. This workshop will culminate in a community gallery exhibition, where the artists can showcase their capstone project work, and share their process.
Participation is by application. After reviewing submissions, we’ll invite a small group of artists to join the cohort and grow together through the series. We’re seeking beginner to intermediate queer South Asian artists who are curious and excited to learn more about the textile topics explored in this series. No prior textile experience is necessary—just a genuine interest in deepening your relationship to fiber arts, community, and cultural memory.
We strongly encourage applications from caste-oppressed individuals, particularly Dalit, Bahujan, and Adivasi artists, who have historically been excluded from both art and South Asian community spaces. We also welcome South Asian artists from all regions, religions, and linguistic backgrounds, including those often left out of mainstream narratives—such as artists from Northeast India, Sri Lanka, and diasporic communities in the Caribbean, East Africa, Fiji, South America, etc. This opportunity is especially supportive of those who are hoping to nurture a professional art practice, but all levels of commitment are welcome