Artist Sharmila Sawant's 'cola cap saree' in charity auction

A saree fashioned out of cola bottle caps linked together with metal shackles by artist Sharmila Sawant is the highlight of 35 art works set to be auctioned for charity here.
The "factory-made" saree, part of Sharmila's series of sarees that she began making in 1998, is a comment on the contemporary process of creating and acquiring art.
"Fashioning a saree from disposable bottle caps was my idea of critiquing the commercial marketing practises and exploitative labour in the country," says Sharmila whose work goes under the hammer at the Art for Concern charity auction on December 12.
The auction, which used to take place annually in Mumbai for the past 12 years is being organised by Secure Giving in aid of Concern India Foundation.

Sharmila, who recently moved base from Mumbai to Gurgaon says till date she has created a total of 20 sarees out of discarded bottle caps, playing upon the irony of customised work manufactured from ready-made disposable bottlecaps.
"The first saree I made in 1998-99 when I was living in Amsterdam was a handmade one created with handloom threads and coca-cola caps based on the traditional Tangail bengali red and white saree. I was talking about cheap labour in India and about how people are ready to do any job because it gives them the money to survive."

Sharmila often undertakes projects which involve eclectic collecting, documenting and recycling of urban debris, looking at the mundane and the profane.

For her first saree the 46-year-old artist says she wanted to "actually do something which would talk about the labour of the hand."
"I thought it would have to be a performative gesture on my part....I actually went to pubs in Amsterdam and collected trash, segregated and cleaned it to create the saree. I used silver bottle caps from Netherlands white ones from Europe and Red ones from India," says Sharmila.