Trash Club Graduates 2024: Sehar Mehra

Sehar Mehra shares her four-year journey at Chelsea College of Art, revealing the highs and lows

India’s colonial history, religious conflict and biodegradable fabrics is the unexpected combination explored by Sehar Mehra for her graduate project. Modern technology’s force is questioned and responded with traditional techniques, summated in knitted garments which aren’t to be confused as fashion, but instead sculptures in a human form.

Studying Textile Design at UAL’s Chelsea College of Art, Sehar’s journey has consisted of ebbs and flows but the most important takeaway? Support from her close-knit community, even when UAL couldn’t.

We first sit down in her studio in March, surrounded by trialled samples, compared to our second meeting in June, days before the exhibition is open to public and what were once experiments, have now transformed into a sculptural display.

© Sehar Mehra

© Sehar Mehra

13th March 2024:

How do you identify as a creative?

My name is Sehar, and I moved here in 2020 after I graduated from high school in India. I moved here just to study textiles, I really wanted to go to UAL.

Where in India are you from?

Punjab.

Do you miss home?

No, I didn't grow up at home. I grew up in a boarding school, which was nice, but I don't have a lot of connections to my home, except my family. I'm okay with that because moving here has given me a completely different experience from what I would have had if I stayed. The move was difficult in the beginning, as I moved during the pandemic. But every passing year, it’s been better.

Does home influence your work or are there other motivations?

I do knitwear, but a lot of my work is motivated by sustainable aspects. In the beginning when I started, it was very much upcycling and dead stock material and all of that because I was looking a lot at sustainability, but now it's more how I can make a fabric biodegradable. I started with a lot of recycled material and it works out well for other people, but like with me it didn't match the path, it didn't match what I was trying to create. So to stay on the responsible pathway, I chose to start making biodegradable fabric. I use natural fibers and natural dyes. So I dye at home with vegetable waste and plant waste and I knit it only with cotton, wool, silk. I've recently been getting into 3D printing and I'm using this, uh, substance, like this material called PLA [Polylactic Acid], which is made with cornstarch and vegetable waste, it looks like plastic but it's not and it is meant to break down completely, but I'm still researching.

What is your research led by?

Religious and political aspects. I used to try really hard to get away from it, and I don't think that worked out in my favour. So this year I've let myself get into it. It’s mostly been religions coming out of India. The population over there, they follow a lot of different religious pathways, it's a very intermingled culture. Second year I looked more at religious conflicts and how they would fight based on land. I don't strongly follow one religion but in my family, they all follow different religions. So I have seen different aspects of it, and when I see the topic in the news, I question it a lot. What are you fighting about? So it's mocking like this outlook. Then this year, 've been looking at colonial history of India and how the different colonies that came into the country, how they affected the art and architecture of the country. So I've moved from like British colonies to Mughal colonies and how people in the art and literature scene responded to it. There are so many aspects to it.

 What aspect did you focus on?

Architecture, it makes me think about how I communicate with people. There’s so much to look at, you can't just spit out one fact. You have to make sure like what you're saying is correct.

“ I want my art to be a wake-up call for whoever's looking at it.”

- Sehar Mehra

Did that feed into your research in biodegradable fabrics?

So I did my foundation online and one of the projects I did was based on the Rana Plaza collapse. Looking at that and reading about that one incident, led me to dig deeper into why it might have happened and the causes of that. That research led me to look into sustainability and like ethical practices. I mean, it's not directly related to that, but that was definitely the starting point for me. This happened a while ago now but it still evokes conversation. People still think about it.

Who do you want to speak to through your work?

If we're thinking about audience, definitely people that want to communicate and use their voice. If I was walking through an art exhibition that focused on political issues, I would want it to be like a wake up call. I want my art to be a wake up call for whoever's looking at it. It's not like one demographic, it's just whoever looks at it, I hope they want to know more about this.

Is your final project garment based?

© Sehar Mehra

I do more art based stuff, small artworks, bigger artworks, tapestries, and I've done mini garments as an art form. For my final outcome I’m doing a combination of art, fashion and sculpture, it’s garments but it’s not wearable, almost modern atrefacts. The methods that I use are inspired by traditional techniques but then I'm throwing in 3D print, which is sort of trying to bring it back to this era.

How much have you made so far?

I've been doing my samples, I've done my test swatches, I'm testing at different sizes, looking at patterns, fixing my colors, getting my yarn ready, sourcing everything. I just have to get making now. But during the Easter break we don’t have access to our studio space but my class are collectively trying to get priority for our year. 

How do you feel towards finishing soon?

I'm scared. I've been with UAL for four years now and now I'm finally starting to get comfortable with how it works. It's quite scary going out there. So I don't know who's going to hire me, what I'm going to do, it's really difficult to find the sort of people that are going to match the same ethos as you. Plus I have to figure out my visa! I would like to work with someone for a couple of years, I would enjoy freelancing, making art, making work for other people. I’ve been in internships before where it’s been stimulating creatively and given me a lot to work with but I want to expand more on what I like to do.

How has the whole like learning experience been here at UAL?

There's a lot they need to improve here. I joined knowing that it was world-renowned for textiles but the first two years here… basically was nothing. Having spoken to others, I think that's a collective experience. I could have made a lot more out of it if I knew how to. Only when we got to third year, they started putting the pressure on. It seems like they've been upgrading their system, the second years are now learning a lot more technical skills. During foundation at CSM I learned how to knit and I went down the textiles path and I learnt a lot from that.

As a young creative, what art space do you see yourself in?

I don't see myself working with a big corporation. I see myself working more with artists and small brands or even bigger brands that promote craftsmanship, that focus a lot on like ethical methods of production, they don't just produce things just for the sake of making them or for a capitalist agenda. I would see myself fitting best in an environment that focuses on where the material is sourced from, if the workers are being paid enough and the methods they follow up after production.

© Sehar Mehra

3rd June 2024:

So, how have you been?

A lot has changed ever since March. I've been working on the same stuff, but now I have better clarity of what I'm doing, now it makes more sense to me.

How would you describe it now?

It’s not fashion, it’s sculptural in a human form.

Did you come to a sudden realisation or was it a journey?

It definitely progressed, it was very process based. I was so confused, but the past few weeks pushed me to understand what I wanted. I made a lot of things and didn’t like them but if I hadn't tried out the things that didn't work out, I would never know. Yeah, it's taking you closer to what you want. Yeah, exactly, that's so true.

Do you feel proud of what you’ve accomplished?

I mean multiple reasons, in my BA I didn't get to enjoy being a student and COVID happened I feel like you never reach a point where you feel like you've done enough. So I would say I'm happy with it, but it's also like, could I have done more? There’s pressure from uni to do more but they ask for more than they can provide. Our workshops are opened 9am-6pm and there’s only ten machines. There’s not enough resources so it’s unfair that they expect an outcome that's larger than that.

Did you experiments with biodegradable fabrics work out?

It worked out pretty well! I've done my dyes, I've done my yarns, and I've been experimenting with 3D print on knitwear, which was a lot trial and error but it worked. I haven’t dealt with stress very well this year, I feel like a robot on the go. A lot of times I feel guilty when I take a break.

Has that led you realise anything different about your project?

Last time I spoke to you, I didn't know whether I would sculpt it based on the body, or if I would just make like an organic shape. I would say it is different from what I imagined it would be, but somehow it is what I wanted it to be. When I look to back then, I don't think all of my ideas fit in very well with how my project was going. I had so many ideas but all of that made no sense going together.

 Do you still feel scared about finishing?

Excited and scared. What am I going to do with nine hours a day? I guess the excitement only lasts like a week, then it’s like, what’s next? I’m still hoping to find a job or a residency that has access to machinery and resources. I was hoping I can find people that work on similar projects to mine so I can work with them and pick things up.

The exhibition opens next week, how do you want people to react?

Most of my focus has been on having this realisation. A lot of my research is based on culture and technology. So I want people to realise that just because we're moving forward, doesn't mean you have to leave like old practices behind. Technology is taking over but that shouldn’t be a reason to abandon traditional practices. I’ve had to find the balance between the two. I read an interview with an artist and they said that technology can be used to uplift old crafts instead of eradicating them completely and that became a beautiful basis for my research.

What advice would you give to yourself as you started your Foundation?

Don't push yourself too hard just because you think you have to. I struggled during the first two years of my BA degree so I would have taken a year off, get my head straight and then come back. But on the whole I wouldn’t change anything. My biggest takeaway would be that support matters, people want to help you get through it.

See Sehar’s BA Textile Design graduate exhibition at Chelsea College of Art from the 6-15th June 2024.

© Sehar Mehra