How Art Heals-WEB

7 3. Shivani Aggarwal WWW.SHIVANIAGGARWAL .ART DELHI , INDIA “I was desperately painting threads on canvas so that I could understand them, deal with them, and knit them into the desired form. Threads here are symbolic of relationships—our connections and our attachments.” Undoing was a release of my knotted emotions. It was therapeutic for me because it helped me grow emotionally. I went on to create more works relating to the same emotions. “As a woman, I have always been asked to repair and mend, not only things, but also relationships. I use a thread reel with a needle a lot in my paintings as a symbol of repair and forgiveness. “ Thread Reel is huge, almost 7.5 feet in height, with thread wrapped on it. The enlarged size has made it lose its function. It can’t repair anything anymore.” This work gave me a lot of power in regard to giving up my function of mending, repairing, and protecting. It made me think of the demeaning futility of mending relationships that have put me through so much pain. I gathered strength to become bigger than the cause, to detach and ref lect on it.