Pooja Shah is a PhD student at the School of Architecture, Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries at Portsmouth University & ‘RangKnit’ is a solo show of works created during a practice-based doctoral research journey at the University of Portsmouth. ‘RangKnit’ marks a continuation of the artist’s interest in Rangoli, which has formed a pivotal part of her practice over the past three years as she has explored how her attachments with home (family), activities that are performed inside the home and her relationship with the interiors shift with the shift in cultural context. 'RangKnit' is fully funded by the University of Portsmouth and the Jack House Gallery. 

Pooja knits intricate patterns seen in Indian Textiles using yarns and knitting needles. Lying somewhere between contemporary knitting practices and Interior design, these circles, concentric compositions create a complex world recording different movements of body, conversations and experiences. Her fascination with knitting dates back to 2013, when she first learnt to knit scarfs for herself and for her friends as a farewell present. When she began her PhD, she explored the history of knitting in the UK and Portsmouth –a practice that revealed an organic transition from making for self/family to building surfaces that can allow an interaction/conversation with others. Drawing from a variety of cultural and societal influences, she uses different yarns, colour and pattern palettes.

The main argument that Pooja attempts to make through her work is that ‘Home’ is not a mere place/space/feeling that is left behind –when a migrant travel far away from her/his homeland either temporarily or permanently, rather home can become a ‘practice’ that is continued into a different mode. In other words, she demonstrates how the knowledge she had gained through making Rangoli (at her homeland while growing up) can be transmitted and transformed into knitting (a traditionally western practice) so that she can feel at home in the UK.

Having worked at Jacob Hashimoto studio, a New York based artist, who shares half- Japanese and half-Irish roots, she learnt a great deal on how to fuse two different cultures together (asking questions such as: what happens when one culture overshadows the other and how/where can an element from a particular culture be left loose in order for it to breath and grow).