Archana Pathak's practice is of British and Indian heritage, specialising in stitch and fine art textiles. Her studio practice involves collecting and working with found memory artefacts such as old photographs, postcards, letters, diaries, and maps. Often, these artefacts are old maps that bring forth the evolving nature of boundaries – both physical as well as psychological. Through these, Archana has been exploring the ‘transient nature of identity', now slowly shifting to being in awareness of 'beauty in transience'.  

Archana's making process involves collecting old memory artefacts and de-constructing them to make textile art. De-constructing these artefacts and reusing them as threads, to re-create something new, is a process that is very personal and core of her thought process and practice. She has also been exploring the interplay among memories, place, belonging, and identity in her practice, finding the process of de-construction and construction to be like the transient nature of identities.

Archana works with her hands and bare minimum tools — her handmade threads, a needle, and old linens to stitch on. Hands are her source of making connections, and hand sewing with these bare minimum tools in absolute silence is a meditative practice. It gives the space to quiet down, to listen deeply to question and to find answers.

The collected artefacts are the starting point and the most important material, which eventually takes shape of the thread used. She prints these artefacts on fabric and cuts very fine laces out of them to make thread, before recreating a visual art piece by very slow, repetitive, almost meditative hand-sewing. These threads give an opportunity to re-construct a new abstract image that flows from personal to political space, from physical to psychological and spiritual realms. 

Archana has exhibited in the UK and internationally. She was the 2022 Needlemakers' Company awardee at Cockpit.