Wedding season has come to LA with Viraj Khanna: Why Did I Say Yes?,” the international solo debut by the artist. A two-time Forbes 30 Under 30 artist, Viraj’s exhibition explores the culture of the Big Fat Indian Wedding.
The Indian wedding is the perfect grounds to explore the themes Viraj finds most interesting: excess, consumerism, and the public versions of ourselves we post in an Instagram-friendly era. Through traditional textile embroidery techniques–particularly ari and zardozi methods–Viraj presents a loving, gently satirical look at the madness and delirium that surrounds the big Indian wedding.
Taking a unit of export and fashion–embroidery–Viraj locates an effective mode of storytelling. Recreating scenes from his own life on the wedding circuit and presenting them in vibrant embroidery, Viraj uses traditional bead and threadwork to present a language for the loss of self in a world of mega-consumption. Viraj emerges not only as a leading chronicler of Indian consumer culture, but also takes on a global fascination with Indian weddings and brings it into new aesthetic territory.
