Conversations in Cloth

Kapad ni Vatchit

કાપડ ની વાતચીત

(December 7, 2023–February 25, 2024)

Conversations in Cloth / Kapad ni Vatchit / કાપડ ની વાતચીત explores the textile traditions of Kutch, a region in the western state of Gujarat, India. Invitations to participate in this exhibition were extended to eleven artists by guest curator, Judy Frater, who developed the first design school for traditional artisans in Kutch. The Kutch district is renowned for its textile traditions, including Badhani, a form of tie-dyeing, weaving of extra weft patterned blankets and shawls, Rabari and Suf embroidery, and Dhadki, a type of scrap quilt making, and carpet weaving. This exhibition showcases the exquisite work of the artists, while asking each of them to engage in a conversation through making with a quilt from the museum’s collection. 

Conversations in Cloth / Kapad ni Vatchit / કાપડ ની વાતચીત features the works of Bharat Vershi Jepar, Basir Fakirmamad Khatri, Muskan Arif Khatri, Shakil Qasam Khatri, Khalid Usman Khatri, Tausif M. Yusuf Khatri, Tara Vijay Puvar, Tulsi Puroshottam Puvar, Sajnuben Pachan Rabari, Nitesh Namori Siju, Prakash Naran Siju. 

Curatorial Statement

We converse in many media. When we see art, we each respond with memories, experiences, and our sense of aesthetics. For this exhibition, we invited eleven traditional artisans from India’s desert region of Kutch, who had graduated from a course in design, to choose quilts from the museum’s rich collection. They selected what spoke to them and responded in their respective media: weaving, resist painting, tying and dyeing, embroidery, or quilting. So began dialogues. Over distance, time and culture, the artisans each brought out expressions from their inspiration quilts in their own work, inviting us to glimpse concepts that they and their partners shared and experience their cloth conversations. — Judy Frater 

About the Guest Curator 

Ashoka Fellow Judy Frater lived in Kutch for 30 years, where she founded Kala Raksha Trust, the Kala Raksha Museum, and Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, the first design school for artisans; she reinvented the school as Somaiya Kala Vidya. She is the recipient of the Sir Misha Black Medal for Design Education, the Crafts Council of India Kamla award, the George B. Walter ‘36 Service to Society Award, and the Designers of India Design Guru Award. 

Previously she was Associate Curator at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC. She authored Threads of Identity: Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris, The Art of the Dyer in Kutch and Artisans by Design. 

In 2022 she was Artist-in-Residence at University of Wisconsin, Madison, and led an artisan tour in Kutch. 

Programming

Thank you

This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of a private donor and the Wisconsin Arts Board - National Endowment for the Arts.