Textile artist Kalyani Pramod’s upcoming exhibition, ‘Tribute to My Father’, is a personal homage to her father, renowned photojournalist TS Nagarajan. Reinterpreting his photographs through textiles, the exhibition creates an intimate dialogue between photography, memory and material

For Kalyani Pramod, her upcoming exhibition is a deeply personal act of remembrance. ‘Tribute to My Father’ is her homage to her father, the celebrated photojournalist TS Nagarajan, whose work, values and way of seeing the world shaped her creative journey. “My father has been my biggest inspiration for who I am today and how I became a designer. I felt it was apt to pay tribute to him and his work. I have taken his photographs and interpreted them in my medium, which is textiles, using fibre, thread, embroidery, tapestry and weaving,” says Kalyani.

That sentiment lies at the heart of ‘Tribute to My Father’, a personal and evocative body of work that unfolds as a creative dialogue between a daughter and her father’s legacy. TS Nagarajan was widely respected for his ability to capture fleeting moments through strong compositions, a masterful use of light and shadow and impeccable timing. His photographs, rooted in social realities and everyday life, continue to inspire generations and remain a constant creative compass for Kalyani.

“As a tribute after his passing, I have reinterpreted some of his most iconic, and in certain cases unpublished, photographs by introducing dimensions of texture and material,” says Kalyani, who is a multidisciplinary artist.

While the original photographs belong to her father, Kalyani’s interpretations are layered with personal memory, nostalgia and lived experience. Many of the images were taken when she was a young girl. “I travelled extensively with my parents, which made me richer in my understanding of different parts of India, its places, people and cultures. I was more of an observer, watching how my father framed the world,” she recalls.

The exhibition brings together a curated selection of TS Nagarajan’s photographs alongside Kalyani’s textile responses. These include wool and silk tapestries, hand-embroidered fabric works, embroidery on tea bag paper, and a series of miniature pieces. Each section follows a theme inspired by her father’s travels and his documentation of the everyday lives of people across India.

“The tapestries focus on images of the common man and scenes from daily life. The tea bag embroideries are based on portraits of people from different regions whom my father photographed,” explains Kalyani. The miniatures depict vendors and street scenes, such as fruit sellers outside temples, forming a quiet series that reflects the rhythm of everyday livelihoods.

Her use of tea bag paper emerged instinctively. A frequent tea drinker, Kalyani began noticing the material’s delicate surface, tonal variations and fragility. What began as a single experiment gradually evolved into a signature medium, one that felt particularly suited to memory and emotion. “It allows the work to feel intimate and vulnerable,” she notes.

Working on the exhibition has been an emotional and nostalgic process. “Putting this exhibition together has brought back many memories. It feels like a quiet conversation with my father, across time,” she tells us.

Alongside ‘Tribute to My Father’, the exhibition also presents Benaras, a textile series rooted in Kalyani’s childhood experiences of travelling with her father to Varanasi. “I travelled to Benaras many times while growing up, and certain images stayed with me. Those memories have now turned into artwork.” For Kalyani, Benaras was not just a sacred city but a familiar landscape filled with sensory impressions, its ghats, river, boats, crowded lanes and spiritual rhythms. Her recollections hold contrasts: beauty and solemnity, vitality and mortality, chaos and calm. These layered memories resurface through embroidery, appliqué and patchwork, reflecting how the city shaped her early understanding of life’s dualities and the fleeting nature of existence.

As a tribute after his passing, I have reinterpreted some of his most iconic, and in certain cases unpublished, photographs by introducing dimensions of texture and material – Kalyani Pramod, textile artist