For the past six weeks, Luisa has been working from Khoj in New Delhi as part of the Cross-Hatchings: Perth–New Delhi International Studio Exchange Program.

Luisa came to Khoj with an interest in ritual, repetition and embodied practices, particularly in relation to pain, grief and renewal. Over the course of the residency, she has started thinking about these ideas less as subjects to represent and more as things that can exist within the act of making itself.

Sewing became an important part of this process. Working with calico, batting and thread, Luisa began building quilted surfaces through repeated gestures before allowing oil paint, colour and intuition to take over. Sewing provided structure, while painting came in to disrupt that rhythm. The stitched line became a framework, but the colour could move beyond it.

Luisa has also been thinking about the quilt as a kind of temporary home. Something portable that can contain, protect, carry and hold. Being away from home made her think about what we carry with us, whether that is memories, rituals, objects, people or grief.

Her time in Delhi has also made her much more aware of ritual as something lived. She has been noticing the repeated gestures, rhythms and acts of care that exist within everyday life, as well as encounters with ritual, nature and devotion outside of the studio.

Rather than trying to make work about Delhi, she has been interested in allowing the experience of being here to move through her and subtly reshape the work. A lot of what she has absorbed during her time here doesn’t necessarily have a language yet, but she can feel it finding its way into her work.

The residency has provided Luisa with the time and space to work reflectively and intuitively, and to trust that process without needing to know exactly where it is leading. She is leaving with more questions than she arrived with, which she thinks is a good thing.