N. Dash’s practice centers on material transformation achieved through direct physical engagement with the support. In this work, indigo-dyed cotton and jute are combined with adobe — sun-dried clay and organic fiber, the building material of the American Southwest and much of the ancient world — in a process that involves contact, pressure, and time rather than application of pigment by tool. Indigo, one of the oldest dye substances known, and adobe, one of the oldest building materials, together locate this work in a pre-industrial temporality even as its support is contemporary fabric.
