Exhibition on textile heritage in Sri Lanka, South Asia and Europe now on at Barefoot Gallery

Saturday, 16 July 2022 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The European Union (EU) Delegation in Sri Lanka and the Maldives together with the Threads of History Museum has launched ‘Threads on Threads: An exhibition on the textile heritage in Sri Lanka, South Asia and Europe’.

The two-week exhibition is an initiative of the EU Cultural Heritage Series. The exhibition began on 9 July and will go on till 24 July at Barefoot Gallery, 704 Galle Road, Colombo 3, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

Curated by Deshika Van Haght, the exhibition currently underway at Barefoot Gallery, with free walk-in entrance, primarily features Somanas and Chintz textiles, their making and their trade. The exhibition showcases the longstanding trade relationship between Sri Lanka, South Asia and Europe.

EU Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Denis Chaibi, said at the opening of the exhibition, “Cultural heritage can be an important vector for peace, reconciliation, mutual understanding, intercultural dialogue and sustainable development. I am therefore happy to open the Threads on Threads exhibition that showcase Sri Lanka’s rich heritage and its linkages with Europe.”

Visitors can experience the history of modern day Sri Lanka’s textile heritage though exhibits consisting of 19th and 20th century fabrics made in Sri Lanka and India as well as European cotton textiles made for the Sri Lankan market, as well as text and high-resolution image panels.

These textiles are part of both the tangible and intangible heritage of Sri Lanka. Indeed, the cultural heritage of textiles does not end with the preservation and collection of costumes and other textiles in museums. It also includes living traditions inherited from past generations.

This will be followed by an international conference co-organised by Lanka Decorative Arts and Threads of History Museum scheduled to take place later this year. It will be a free event with pre-registration required. The conference will see art historians, ethnologists, museum curators, and designers from Sri Lanka, South Asia and Europe debating and discussing history of textiles, their preservation, links and influences, contemporary craftsmanship and the challenges of modern entrepreneurship.

Pix by Shehan Gunasekara