Happy Diwali! Our window gallery is lit up with a beautiful new installation by Jas Dhillon – cotton choonis (dupattas/shawls/scarves) screen printed using Punjabi text and hung against a backdrop of fairy lights in keeping with the Indian festival of lights.

The installation will be on show until November 25th 2020, visible from the street 24 hours a day at INTRA, 337-341 Rochester High Street, ME1 1DA.

Born from a desire to preserve the poetic blessings from her grandma in India, the hanging scarves symbolise the power and beauty of language, the gift of love, and its ability to transcend oceans, borders and realms. The scarves are offered as a love story to those that left their ancestral lands to migrate to the West, in pursuit of safety, security, prosperity and adventure, and to those like Jas’s grandma that had to let them go.

We are so happy to exhibit this work, commissioned by People Dem Collective for exhibition during Margate Now in October, and we’re proud to have been involved in its creation. Jas screen printed the choonis here at INTRA with support from Intra Arts and Medway Fine Printmakers’ director Xtina Lamb in September.

A chooni is an item of clothing worn by women and elders in Punjab, most often draped over the head and shoulders, as a symbol of modesty, respect and dignity. It also has many practical uses, and is used to protect the wearer and often their child from the sun, soothe a child when they’ve hurt themselves, a playful item to entertain a child, something to protect hands from hot items in the kitchen, and is even used to wrap around the head to ease headaches.