Backspace a place of worship

EACH time Minaal Lawn walks into an art gallery, or a Hindu temple, she feels a similar sense of contentment.

Expanding on this feeling, the Indian-Australian ceramic artist has created an exhibition for the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s Backspace called Objects of Worship.

The room has become an “abstracted temple,” with Lawn reimagining traditional details.

“Elements that you find in Hindu temple architecture have taken on the forms of my work, and I’ve transposed them into this space,” she said.

“Knuckle stacks are a form I’ve been making for a while, and in this context, they represent guardians of the temple, which are ominous structures you walk past.

“There’s always a lot of wall adornment and pure decoration, and a central deity which is the main thing you’re worshipping.”

Lawn has created and installed 413 knots on the wall, symbolic of a tradition at a temple located not far from the Taj Mahal.

“You tie knotted fabric on the lattice exterior of the temple, and that’s to bring you blessings for children,” she said.

The show is inspired by the style of the late Indian contemporary sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee, and it pays homage to her.

“She was practicing in the 1970s, used to make floor-to-ceiling sculptures out of knotted fabrics, and was completely independent,” Lawn said.

“She was an amazing woman, wearing a sari and hanging out with all the men in art school. I found a real synergy between her art practice and her independent spirit, and the fact that she was an Indian woman trying to do something that wasn’t the cultural norm.

“The central deity in my exhibition, in a very abstracted way, is Mrinalini Mukherjee, who I am revering. I hope her energy is felt.”

Lawn’s creative background is rooted in fashion design, and she said it developed her understanding of colour and texture.

Exploring ceramics as a hobby once her three children arrived, it became her “primary vocation,” and she now has a home studio in the Hepburn Shire.