VILLAGE WEAVING IN CAMBODIA – PAST AND PRESENT

The NSW Textile Study Group invites you to a presentation by Emeritus Professor Valerie Kirk. This presentation will give an overview of changes and contemporary practice in Lao textiles today.

Carole Douglas began working with Aari artisans in Gujarat almost 30 years ago. In this illustrated talk, and using actual examples, she will trace the origins of this embroidery style and offer insights into its current status both as a ‘folk' art and as a high end fashion statement.

Although centrally situated in the Indonesian archipelago, Lombok has attracted relatively little attention from textile scholars, the largely Muslim Sasaks being widely viewed as rather dull relations of their exuberant Hindu Balinese neighbours across the strait to the west. This richly illustrated lecture will hopefully dispel any notion of Sasak woven textiles as monotonous and inconsequential. And in doing so, provide some understanding of the roots of those Sasak textile traditions that survive in Lombok today.

Frances Ergen has a background in textile design and development in Europe and Japan and has lived in Turkiye for many years, where local textile techniques became a focus. In this talk, Frances will show how the traditional craft of Turkish needlelace has endeavoured to survive, illustrated by her own Oya collection, reference books and other material.

Following his 1927 visit to Indonesia, Rabindranath Tagore - the great Indian writer and artist - introduced the technique of Javanese batik to West Bengal. It evolved into a significant cottage industry, nowadays practised by several thousand people. The talk will be illustrated with batik saris made at Santiniketan in West Bengal.