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It's a challenge for an artist to work in an unusual medium and overcome the limitations of it. There are many mediums and techniques traditionally used by craftsmen, like terracotta (pottery); repou'sse (embossing on metal sheets) used for making idols, ritualistic objects for doors of temples; metal casting by cire - perdue process (lost wax process) from Bastar (M.P); weaving (on the loom as well as macrame); embroidery etc.. 20th century artist has taken up the challenge of working in such mediums & raising the created product from the level of craft to fine art. This kind of challenge was taken up by Indian artists due to the identity crises passed by the International art scene. Artists of today's generation adopts to work in traditional medium purely with the interest of exploring it. Though for an artist having mastery over the medium is a must it remains secondary when it comes to expression.
Liesl Cotta De Souza has put in hard efforts to explore the challenges of the traditional medium of embroidery (thread on cloth) conventionally used in making tapestries. She has attempted to defy the convention to create a work of art. Her indulgence and perseverance certainly needs an appraisal for elevating the craft to the level of art full of creative promises. Her present oeuvre is an outcome of long and arduous preoccupation with embroidery. This medium demands tremendous patience and hard work.

Inspite of living in an urban society her preoccupation is with the mundane activities of rural life. Being a woman she quickly empathizes with the hardships they are compelled to undergo circumstantially. A rag picker girl carrying a huge bundle of firewood on the head or a woman with a water pot returning back home, quickly catch her attention and gets transformed into a work of art. She doesn't portray a particular person but it is a generalized comment suggested by many of the figures, which she chooses to show from backside. At the same time maximum picture space is occupied by the figure, the locale becomes secondary. Her depiction of rainy season is interesting, an umbrella becomes an integral part of the figure. The hazy weather effect that she has got by embroidering layers of colored thread woven one over the other draws attention at once. She incorporates domestic animals like cat, rat & cocks along with people, which is a common sight in villages.

Her palette ranges from subtle shades of closely related colours like browns and grays to the contrasting bright hues like red, blue, green and yellow. With the help of different types of stitches she creates different textures. She has experimented with the use of other material like feathers to show a cats tail in 'Nostalgia', or a piece of cloth hanging down rag pickers shoulders in 'Rag Picker' such attempts certainly give a different dimension to her work. Another experiment she has attempted with the use of black cloth, in 'The Fisherman', instead of white. The space left unembroidered evokes the effect of darkness & silence. At times accidental effects are retained due to the purpose it serves. In this work the effect of the fisherman's net is created due to the white thread wound loose in the bobbin of the sewing machine.

Solitude & silence characterize Liesl's work poignantly reflecting her human concern.

-Neeta Omprakash