Richa Arya Stitches Memory and Metal at Jodhpur Arts Week

This October, Jodhpur Arts Week will transform the city into a lively stage for contemporary artistic expression from Wednesday, October 1st, until Tuesday, October 7th, 2025.

Featured this year is Richa Arya, represented by gallery Exhibit 320, an artist whose work examines women’s lives, social structures, and the legacies of migration. Her installation, Bound by Thread, United by Hands, offers audiences a contemplative space to reflect on shared histories and collective strength. 

Bound by Thread, United by Hands was developed in collaboration with the women artisans of the Sang Welfare Society. The artist, who has participated in notable residencies and been recognised with numerous accolades, will curate a walkthrough for the audience on Day 2 (Thursday, 2nd October) of the Arts Week at Daspan House. 

By merging delicate textile traditions with challenging surfaces, Arya highlights both the skill and resilience of these women, creating a work that honours their stories, celebrates collective creativity, and reflects on the ways memory, migration, and cultural heritage continue to shape communities.

Bound by Thread, United by Hands reimagines the traditional aangan, a courtyard that has long been a space of gathering, conversation, and labour for women. The work brings together the intricate craft of Sindhi mukka embroidery and the uncompromising surfaces of metal and iron, creating a striking tension between delicacy and strength. Life-size figurative portraits of the artisans are interwoven with elements stitched directly by the women themselves, embedding their voices and labour into the piece. 

Through this collaborative process, Arya transforms embroidery from a familiar craft into a powerful gesture of persistence and cultural continuity, inviting viewers to engage with the histories, migrations, and everyday resilience of the women who shaped it. 

By presenting these artists, Jodhpur Arts Week continues to serve as a platform for innovative practices that push the boundaries of material, memory, and cultural storytelling. 

Richa Arya, represented by Exhibit 320 in New Delhi, was born in 1997 in Samalkha, Haryana. She earned her BFA in Sculpture from Kurukshetra University in 2018 and her MFA in Sculpture from the College of Art, University of Delhi in 2020. A sculptor whose practice explores gendered labour and material culture, she has exhibited at leading platforms including the India Art Fair, Serendipity Arts Festival, and Triveni Art Gallery. Working with repurposed scrap metal, Arya transforms industrial fragments into installations that foreground women’s resilience, bridging personal memory with collective histories. 

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Jodhpur Arts Week is a premier festival of contemporary art, uniting artists, galleries, and audiences in Rajasthan. The city transforms into a vibrant stage for exhibitions, installations, and artist talks, celebrating diverse voices, fostering cultural exchange, and positioning Indian contemporary art in a global conversation.