PAUSE
PAUSE is an immersive site-referential installation that was inspired by the witnessing of a daily act of drying natural fabric on a 3-dimensional framework in Rajasthan prior to applying dyes or color. The practice and the resulting artwork thus have its roots in India’s complex and historical association with textiles and the social implications of the industry.
Responding to the heightened anxiety across ages and geographies, the work is informed by the intensifying climate crisis, the advent of AI, addiction to digital social platforms, wars, increasing displacement and migration, and the growing global shift towards authoritative leadership. Within this landscape of uncertainty and unease, viewers are invited to explore and reflect on a more extensive manifestation of the artist’s initial experience by walking through hanging panels of unbleached fabric. As viewers traverse the work, the 18’ draped cotton fabric, will touch skin, face, or fingers either intentionally or accidentally, compelling the participant to be more present and mindful. A sound element, a deconstruction of a composition from a found 100-year old player piano roll titled ‘Meditation’, will reverberate within the the structure, further heightening the experience and enabling the viewer to disconnect and be present in the moment.
The artwork offers an opportunity for a pilgrimage of sorts, a transformative journey that can be healing, spiritual, and meditative. The path or circulation through the installation is self-determined, allowing each participant to find their own rhythm and direction through the work.
In addition to the bleached fabric, which is randomly marked by block printed notations from the piano roll, the artwork is punctuated with a number of identical cylindrical earth cores made from compacted rammed earth. As a natural material, the earth cores, in many ways in sync with the textile, are alive and breathing. These earth cores offer seating between and next to the aisles of hanging fabric. They are places to offer respite, and to connect - for the individual themselves and communally with the person seated close by.
About Ja Ja Ja Collective
Anjali and Jo met serendipitously at the 16th edition of the India Art Fair took place from February 6th to 9th, 2025, at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds in Okhla, New Delhi. At that time, Jo was a visiting artist at Shiv Nadar University, Institute of Eminence in Greater Noida, India.
After a brief but intense discussion about shared interests, they agreed to meet again in New York, where they both reside. They immediately formed a deeper connection as they spoke of their love for art, textiles and immersive experiences. They realized that they both chase a certain quality of light, connection to natural elements and an ephemeral experience, for Anjali through the spaces she designs and for Jo, through her art installations. During that initial meeting, Jo also shared her recent visit to Jaipur earlier in March 2025, where she met Anita Gopalaswamy, founder and director of Studio Ruyee, a collaborative platform that champions the artistry, heritage, and future of Indian handcraft.
This meeting, also by chance, led to sharing common interests and facilitated Jo’s taking part and experiencing many facets of the textile craft through her involvement in textile workshops. This also resonated with Anjali whose family belongs to Rajasthan and she has spent her summers in the region being immersed in its arts and crafts. From these initial meetings to many others that followed, the Ja Ja Ja Collective was formed.
Ideas for this collective and ensuing projects have flowed naturally. Their artworks and engagement with India and textiles cross geographical and generational boundaries, and are a commentary on the many ways to positively and poetically address current political, social and technological positions to arrive at a still place of shared humanity.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
aNJALI mANGALGIRI
Anjali Mangalgiri is the founder and creative brain behind Grounded, an award-winning sustainable architecture and boutique real estate development firm that she founded in 2010.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi in 2002, Anjali moved to the USA to do a Master in City Planning from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2005, she joined New York based architecture firm HOK, where she worked on urban planning projects before returning to university to complete a Masters in Real Estate Development at Columbia University in 2008.
Combining her passion for sustainability with the broader knowledge on planning, policy and business that she had gained in the US, led Anjali to set up Grounded in 2010. The studio is now building across continents in NYC, Singapore, Bangalore, Chennai, outskirts of Mumbai and Goa. Anjali has been on the prestigious AD100 list of architects for four consecutive years (2022-25) and was identified as one of ten design disruptors by Outlook Magazine in 2024-25. Passionate about art, design and the environment, Anjali has been a TEDx speaker and a speaker at Columbia University. She is the founding advisory member for Smart Cities Advisors in New York and has served as a director on the board of CIANA, a New York based non-profit. She is a registered architect in India, a LEED Accredited Professional in the US and an IGBC Accredited Professional in India. She has won multiple awards, has been widely published and has spoken about her work and sustainable design at various avenues.
JO YARRINGTON
Jo Yarrington is an internationally exhibited artist, Professor of Studio Art in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Fairfield University, Fairfield CT.
Yarrington has used time as medium to give form to invisible energies which has been made through material explorations using multifaceted processes. These have included monoprints, artist books, alternative photography, installation of printed archival material and durational practices such as walking, pilgrimage and improvisation. Monoprints have been structured on chance, giving weight to the present and honoring the lived experience. Recent installation projects have focused on the unseen labor of women working in Uranium factories, cultural currents in countries like Bhutan when the internet was first made available en masse and in coded light projections manifested through found archival informational systems such as musical scores/vintage piano rolls, textile punch cards and microfiche. She currently lives and works in New York City.
SINGAPORE DESIGN WEEK 2018
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A HOME FOR EVERYONE
What is 'home' to you? A sanctuary, a moment of respite, a sense of ease & familiarity, or a person.
In 2018, Grounded partnered with a Singapore based NGO, BillionBricks to organize an exhibition on the crisis of homelessness in India. This exhibition was part of Singapore Design Week and was presented at the National Design Center in Singapore.
SINGAPORE DESIGN WEEK 2019
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nature design week
A clay tile making workshop celebrating humankind’s biophilia. The event was a collaboration with Padme Hum Clay Studio. Grounded created a site-specific installation to transform the space into a mini ‘Nature Design Museum’. The objective was to create an immersive sensorial experience and share the wonder of innovation in nature. The installation exhibited over 60 different samples of leaves and about 25 different seed varieties. Participants were encouraged to explore the complexities found in nature and use that as inspiration for their clay work.
