Photo Essay: Worldwide Weave
By Doug Favero
Written on 6 June 2008
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The Textile Museum of Oaxaca celebrated its Grand Opening in April of 2008 with an exhibit entitled, "From Mitla to Sumatra: The Art of the Woven Fret," featuring handmade indigenous clothing from Iran to Burma.
Long View of the Caracol Room
Featuring wraps, scarves, shirts and adornments from Thailand to Oaxaca for the current exhibit.
The museum's collection has surpassed five thousand pieces from indigenous cultures around the world.
The Textile Museum of Oaxaca calls home a restored 18th Century private colonial mansion and the 16th Century ex-Convent of St. Paul in the city's historic center. The original paintings, time-worn and beautiful, can still be seen on the ex-convent's walls.
The debut exhibit takes visitors on a magic-carpet ride of handmade indigenous clothing and adornments from Oaxaca to the Americas, Equatorial Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, China, Japan and Indonesia, and back to Oaxaca. Designs rife with symbolism woven into materials textured by the human touch, hundreds of pieces are connected across time and space by flesh and myth.
The best part about the new museum? It’s free.
Enter the arched entryway and be transported into the worlds woven into an early 20th Century baby carrier from the Yue Li Miao people of Guangxi Province, China. A bedding bag (Madrash) from the Shahsevan of Iran. A table cover from the Pashtun of Pakistan. A bag cover from the Baluch of Afghanistan. Bridal talismans from the Tekke and Yomud Turkmen of Turkmenistan. Saya gosha from the Turkmen designed to hang over the rolled-up bedquilts inside the nomad's tent during the day. A shoulder cloth from the Island of Borneo, a body wrap from northwest Timor. Wedding blankets, sashes, huipiles. Dance skirts from the Congo. A knotted reserve technique called ikat from Uzbekistan, producing an effect known as abr in Persian, which means cloudlike, because of how the designs seem to float above the cloth and colors seem to blend together.
It is a transfixing experience. You seem to see more and be transported farther each time you return. A visitor from Kentucky left this note, referring to how the textiles and architecture complement each other: 'Truly an exquisite experience of universal aesthetic appeal.'
Other photos in this article...
This article has been submitted to the recurring theme “Grand Opening,” sponsored by Gadling.
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