Threads across time

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS OF NATIONAL relations, a comprehensive exhibit of Indian textiles and fashion will be shown in Manila at twin exhibits at the National Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.

The embassy of India has sent a collection of more than 70 pieces of textiles from the collection of the National Handicrafts & Handloom Museum of New Delhi for a three-month exhibit entitled Living Art at the Museum of the Filipino People of the National Museum.

Indian textiles enjoy a long and uninterrupted historical tradition that dates back to 3,500 years at least. Since ancient times, travelers to Indian lands and later, colonial visitors, cited in their travelogues the rich heritage of Indian handwoven and embellished textiles.

Four Indian experts have been invited to support the exhibition for four weeks. Mr. Shri Guruppa Chetty and Mr. Shri Jonnalagadda will demonstrate and answer questions about Kalamkari, the art of drawing free hand figures on textiles using vegetable dyes. Mr. Salvi Chhotalal Maniolal, a national awardee in India, and Salvi Rohit Kumar Kantilalal will demonstrate double ikat techniques.

The best of traditional technique and textiles from nine states of India: Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu serve as the inspiration for eight Indian designers to create contemporary and fashionable adaptations as presented in the exhibition Living Culture at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, which opened last Friday and will run until November 24.

"India’s textile constitutes one of the world’s richest sources of designs, drawn upon increasingly by the design fraternity from across the world. But contemporary Indian designers have a unique advantage over counterparts elsewhere. They are surrounded by a living tradition and skilled crafts people facilitating experiment and change," says Wajahat Habibullah, Secretary of India’s Ministry of Textiles.

Pieces using the traditional Kantha embroidery, block printing methods employed by the Warli tribe, the traditional vibrant tie dye Banhani skill, the brightly colored Indian cotton Kalamkari, the distorted warp technique of ikat weavers of South India, traditional hook needlecraft by expert darners of Kashmir, the mosaic-like embroidery of the nomadic tribes of Gujarat, the vibrant, naturally golden colored Muga silk, the ethereal white-on-white embroidery Chikankari of the northern state of Ultar Pradesh, the sonzi needlecraft embroidery of Kashmir, and hand-made laces of Southeastern India introduced by Christian missionaries, make up the collection put together by the National Institute of Fashion Technology of India.

This traveling exhibition has been made possible by the Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, National Handicrafts & Handloom Museum and the National Institute of Fashion Technology of India. The Philippine staging of the exhibits is made possible through the cooperation of the Embassy of India in the Philippines.

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Living Art can be viewed at the Museum of the Filipino People (tel 527-1215) at Rizal Park, Tuesdays to Sundays, 10 am to 4 pm. Living Culture can be viewed at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (tel 524-0613) on Roxas Blvd. Mondays to Saturdays, 9 am to 6 pm.