COLOUR & LIGHT: Embroidery from India and Pakistan

Thursday, 18 January 2007 21:50

TORONTO - An explosion of color and pattern awaits visitors to the Textile Museum of Canada’s new exhibition, Colour & Light: Embroidery from India and Pakistan.  Colour & Light presents a dazzling display of richly embellished South Asian textiles from the 18^th – 20^th century.  The refraction of light on silk threads, the subtle color changes and the striking juxtaposition of positive and negative shapes transform the cloth in Colour & Light into something extraordinary.  On exhibition January 24 to July 8, 2007.

Drawn primarily from the TMC’s permanent collection of South Asian textiles, one of the most significant collections in Canada, Colour & Light will be the first major exhibition of these stunning works.  South Asia is known for the beauty and diversity of its decoratively stitched cloth.  Whether produced in male-dominated urban workshops or in the home by rural women and girls, embroidery served – and to a large extent still serves – multiple functions in secular and spiritual life.

Colour & Light speaks of the communicative power of needle and thread.  The styles, motifs, color combinations and stitching techniques are essential indicators of group affiliation and personal identity.  Some of the most exquisitely embroidered textiles in this exhibition were meant to reflect the wealth and influence of rulers and the elite.  Others were lavishly covered with brilliantly colored silk threads and shiny mirrors to identify brides and grooms.  The objects in this exhibition come from the modern countries of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh – a vast geographic area that shares a common history and culture yet is ethnically and environmentally diverse.

The exhibition will showcase textiles from a variety of communities throughout the region including the sophisticated and complex geometric patterns of Islamic traditions and the lively and imaginative representational motifs of Hindu artistic expression.  Many pieces featured in Colour & Light are embellished with glass mirrors, beetle-wing casings, glass beads, seeds, silk tassels and an assortment of metal ornaments.

With the passage of time and the increasing availability of imported and machine-made goods, some of the outstanding examples of embroidery traditions represented in this exhibition are no longer practiced or are in imminent danger of disappearing.  Others have been revived by interest from Western markets.  In the past three decades, women’s embroidery has become an income generating activity and a vehicle from improving women’s education, health and social equality.

Colour & Light: Embroidery of India and Pakistan combines the innate and striking beauty of historic textiles with contemporary voices of the community.  An in-gallery video installation, featuring Hari Krishnan, Kiran Ahluwalia, Rashmi Varma and others, brings personal commentaries to textiles traditionally made for clothing, household decoration and cultural expression, reflecting the multicultural environment of today’s Canada.

About the Curator :Dale Carolyn Gluckman has over 20 years experience as a curator and department head in the Costume and Textile Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) where she specialized in Asian textiles and organized many exhibitions as well as co-authoring two major catalogues and winning several awards for excellence.

Visit the Textile Museum of Canada at : www.textilemuseum.ca