A beautiful exhibition of mosaic art presenting a clear vision of the replication of patterns discovered within nature and clearly derived from the Rangoli floor designs and Mendhi hand patterns of Caroline’s Indian heritage. The spectacular use of vibrant colours and shapes adds to an overall feeling of depth and form. As a consequence, viewers are drawn to both the tactile nature of the medium and the story that is being told.
Caroline’s Dancing with Life series incorporates her love of gardening and her awareness of this as a healing practice. The series brings to the fore Caroline’s desire to piece together fragments in order to make sense of experience and to narrate a new story. She sees a strong correlation between the creativity and how the creator views herself; of how making and wellness are embodied in the process of mosaic making. Caroline’s view of the world is thus embodied in her work. These mosaics celebrate the everyday woman. It is of elevating and honouring a woman like Nanni-Ma, who worked so hard during her long life as if her hands had disappeared: or the woman who would quietly make a rangoli pattern very early each morning as part of her daily prayerful ritual to ask for protection for her household. I honour these women. I wanted to incorporate my love of gardening and to set these women in a landscape focusing on a captured moment of reflection.
Caroline Jariwala is a highly prolific artist who has been working in the field of fine art since 1986. Most of her artwork is inspired by her Gujarati Indian heritage, and is developed through investigating themes of ritual, custom, and culture, to celebrate the female form.