In Repelling, textile artist Chanee Vijay challenges her natural inclination toward muted, analogous palettes by immersing herself in the energetic duality of complementary colors. In this 15-piece hemp textile collage series, Vijay hand-dyes and constructs works that investigate the emotional and visual tension between chromatic opposites. Complementary colors are biologically and psychologically intense when placed side by side. For Vijay, who gravitates toward balance, softness, and quiet chroma, this vibration mirrors an inner discomfort. These works emerge from that unease.

Across the series, Vijay experiments with what happens when these opposites are confronted, softened, layered, or allowed to bleed into one another. Hard contrasts dissolve into foggy borders. Saturated hues become atmospheric through hemps porous fiber. Colors that once repelled begin to converse. Each textile collage becomes a physical record of negotiating opposites. From the most extreme difference emerges the most stable neutral.

In Vijay’s Words:
I have generally kept my palettes soft and tonal. Anything too intense, with too much saturation, feels like conflict to my nervous system. But I realized that by confronting this discomfort, I could use the overstimulation as an act of growth.”