A view of the Mohatta Palace at dusk. – File Photo by Nadir Siddiqui/Dawn.com
KARACHI, Jan 10: A visually engaging exhibition of African textiles titled ‘Sand and Silk’ from the collection of internationally renowned collector, lender and author John Gillow opened at the Mohatta Palace Museum on Tuesday.
The display, organised by the Trustees of the Mohatta Palace Museum, has a delectable variety of textiles highlighting different patterns and styles from the African region, along with those techniques of fabric making which have affinities with different parts of the world.
The section ‘Woven Patterns’ represents a visual language determining status or identity of an individual or a group. The variety displayed in the category ranges dance skirt, blanket, cloth for mourning and wedding shawl, etc.
The ‘Ceremonial Textiles’ section has, apart from others, ceremonial shawl (attributed to Mahdia, Tunisia); woman’s wrap (Ghana); woman’s ceremonial headbands (Berber group, Atlas Mountains, Morocco); and shawl (Morocco). The most interesting part of the display is ‘Tie Dyed and Indigo Dyed Textiles’, about which Mr Gillow also spoke in his brief speech.
In this category, ceremonial skirt (Dida people, Ivory Coast); women’s wrap (Yoruba people, S.W. Nigeria), stitched-resist and indigo-dyed fabric; and women’s headbands (Asaba, S. Tunisia), wool woven in sprang technology and tie dyed are a few of the eye-catching exhibits.
The ‘Affinities’ section denotes the universality in the use and making of textiles, different only in styles of ornamentation. To emphasise the point, woman’s wrap bandhani or odhani (Hathungo, Sanghar Sindh) and woman’s head shawl salari (Khushab, Punjab) are on display among others.
Then there is a portion where ceremonial hats and masks are on view.
Prior to the formal inauguration of the exhibition, Mohatta Palace Museum Director Nasreen Askari welcomed the guests and talked about the genesis of the show.
It was small but significant departure from the usual displays, and was important in order to be familiar with textiles of other geographical regions, she said. “It was done so that we did not regress into insularities.”
She said textiles defined culture and civilisation much like religion and language. With respect to textiles’ effect, she articulated that technique, colour and ornamentation conspired to present a unique snapshot of a single community. She claimed ‘Sand and Silk’ would show the complexity and appeal of African textiles.
Mr Gillow began his address by terming Karachi’s winter as ‘balmy’ compared to England’s from where he had come. He said he’d been coming to Pakistan for the last 40 years and had collected fabulous textiles.
Narrating how his passion for fabrics took root, he said he was 17 when he went to Istanbul where he looked for fur, carpets and jewellery but had very little money to buy them. Then when things began to look up he went to countries like Morocco, Syria and Lebanon. After graduation he ‘hit the hippy trail’ and travelled to the subcontinent (1974). He added it was in 1975 that he first visited Africa and was fascinated by the continent. In West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria) indigo-dyed textiles impressed him. He sensed the affinities of East African textiles with other regions of the world. Wool and silk of North Africa and beadwork in South Africa were no less impressive, he said.
In the end, a slide show depicting various textile forms and the regions they come from was shown. The exhibition will run till the end of February.
A workshop on the same subject will be held on Jan 11 (today) at the Mohatta Palace Museum at 11am.—Peerzada Salman
Posted on January 11, 2012 (16 hours ago)
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