Images by Ali Monis Naqvi
We are pleased to announce the solo exhibition warrior garments of afra eisma at Museum of Art & Photography in Bangalore, India.
Stitched, layered, painted and charged with feeling, Dutch artist afra eisma’s warrior garments invite you into a world where anger is not contained, but worn.
Following its showcase at the Dutch Warehouse in Fort Kochi, MAP brings these works to Bengaluru. Sewn in silk and organza, the garments hide activist reflections—phrases hand-painted across luminous textiles, stitched together into forms that hold both vulnerability and strength. These works explore anger as a potent force for transformation; becoming vessels to hold and give form to rage. They create a space where visitors, especially those who have endured violence, are acknowledged and embraced. By foregrounding emotion as both personal and political energy, eisma invites viewers to reconsider how vulnerability, resistance, and healing can coexist.
Using bright colours and play to speak about darker and more complex emotions is a hallmark of afra’s practice. Anger and rage emerging from personal experiences, and sometimes borrowing from the articulations of other writers and activists, are featured on the textiles. As you move through the space, the garments ask quiet but insistent questions: How do you make yourself feel safe in bearing the richness of a boundless emotional life? In eisma’s world, softness does not dilute intensity, it makes room for it.