Understanding..

Textile is understood to play a very general as well as specific role in any society. While textiles serve the everyday needs of people, it also serves to distinguish individuals and a group of individuals as in, social class, gender, occupation and status. From the lecture, I understood that textile is more than just a field that involves designers and craftsmen; its intertwined in a person’s everyday and mundane thoughts, it’s a mode of judgment, it’s a source of identity, it’s serves in distinguishing hierarchy and also displays , in an emblematic way ( through various motifs), the role of politics. 

I think the Short film “Threads of Art” by Ali Standish on Yinka Shonibare is a classic example of how textile is used as mode of communicating various cultural discrepancies as well as a form of raising questions on social aspects, such as stereotypes. ‘Bright, playful, textured, African, Post Colonial, Colorful, Victorian, Ironic, Modernist, Beautiful, Popular, Stunning, Unique’, are some of the words that have been used in the past to describe textiles. Shonibare’s works seem to pretty much epitomize the aforesaid words. His work shows a combination of the Victorian clothes with Batik; a rare and probably the only combination of European dresses with African type of fabric, which provokes and allows the viewer to question the cultural scene of Africa at that time; which is what I think textiles from all periods of time represent, from the beginning of time till date, textiles as much as any other artifact can shed light on the prevailing socio economic scene of the particular region. I can interconnect Shinobari’s work with the example that was given during the lecture- The Mughal designs on a Victorian gown similar to Shinobari’s English dressed mannequins with African colours and motifs, using the batik style for a Victorian age outfit, in a way, this particular statement strikes me rather sardonic. What I liked most about the video was how he said he uses his textile as a medium of expression. I think it’s really different from installations and paintings and other everyday popular mediums. Using mannequins and dressing them in a manner similar to the political scene that prevailed back then is something uncommon.

In reflection to the question raised about how the crafts are affected in a democratic country, I feel, that there is a more positive effect on crafts because, in a democracy, there is freedom of speech, thought, action as opposed to a communist society, hence, if a crafts-person wants to practice his art he is free to do so, and also, if he is financially unfortunate, he can always sought help from the more fortunate in the form of patronage. Such sort of freedom is restricted in a communist society as there is one power that decides what craft should be practiced and what craft will benefit them most. In such society, craft tradition may not flourish as much as it has scope in a democracy. 

The word Ornamentation, though may seem like a new word, has been in existence since early 13^th Century. It was first from Old French as, “ornament” and then from Latin, “Ornamentum” and then in English, “ornate”.  The word is all encompassing. It could mean, decoration, embellishment, adorn, equipments etc.

I feel to know the history of jacquard loom and why it was invented is as important as the loom itself. Joseph Marie Jacquard, the inventor of the Jacquard loom was born into a family of weavers, hence understood that the weaving profession was a long and tedious process often taking extremely long time to produce the fine woven fabric of that era. This would mean that the amount of time that was put into such a profession almost eliminated the profit of the fabric; hence Joseph saw it necessary to invent a loom that would design such patterns automatically, hence the birth of the Jacquard Loom. Before the invention of the Jacquard Loom, there was a need for a ‘drawboy’, who was to sit into the loom and lift or move a number of threads according to the directions of the master weaver. I cannot but shudder at the thought of the process the drawboy must have gone through. So, Jacquard’s invention not only helped in the advancement of the textile industry, but in the advancement of technology as well.

The Bayeux tapestry is not an actual tapestry. It is, in my opinion, a wonder. It is not the usual embroidery which is used for textile embellishment, but more of a narrative of various events that culminated in the battle of Hastings. This wonder is almost 230feet long and the stories are told only through embroidery. This again, strikes me with a sense of wonderment because, textile was used as a medium of communication, storytelling and documentation as Yinka Shonibare had done. The tapestry has some 50 scenes with Latin titles. The tapestry is housed by Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France.

Arts and Crafts was an international design movement that was led by artist and writer William Morris who was inspired by the writings of John Ruskin. It was largely a reaction against the impoverished state of decorative arts. It stood for traditional craftsmanship using simple forms and applied medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration. I feel the whole movement was a rebellious phase against the accelerating industrial revolution. It seems to me that the designs from the arts and crafts movement was produced as a reaction to the machine produced styles. The style was simple without any excessive decoration.

According to Bauhaus principles, pure form emerged from functional structure and require no decoration and I feel that Art Deco is a classic example of the phrase ‘no excess decoration’. They are streamlines and symmetrical. The simple flat shapes are made into hard patterns. When I looked at Art Deco and then at Art Nouveau, It took me a while to adjust my senses to the obviously exaggerated and whimsical lines of Art Nouveau from the hard patterned and symmetrical designs of Art Deco. Chintz designs are mostly European patterns derived from the Indian designs from the Mughal art (Islamic motifs/arabesque). These designs are generally florid.