In this special celebration to mark the 64th anniversary of Indian Independence Day a traditional Gandhi Spinning Wheel, the symbol of Indian Independence, will be ceremonially spun by visiting master weaver Jyotish Debnath.
The Jamdani weaver from West Bengal will be joined by Bina Dey, an embroiderer from the Bengali Kantha quilt embroidery tradition on the day. Both have been invited to provide live-demonstrations of their skills as part of the Heirlooms exhibition, being run by the EIF in the South Gallery at Dovecot from Tuesday 16 August
The spinning wheel (charka) on which Gandhi spun thread became the symbol of Indian Independence. Gandhi urged members of every household to use these simple spinning devices in order to make homespun cotton yarn for weaving into khadi, the cotton cloth which became the symbol of self sufficiency in pre-independence India. Until this point, under British rule, Indians had been compelled to buy cloth produced on machines in Britain and exported to India.
Ruby Palchoudhuri, Director of the Crafts Council of West Bengal will also be present during the demonstrations to explain the techniques and answer questions.
And adding to the mix, artist Deirdre Nelson will begin a very unusual residence in Dovecot. Deidre, whose work is shown in the contemporary exhibition, will move into the gallery for 24 hours on today (Monday 15th) and tweet and blog about her experience throughout her micro-residency.
About Heirlooms Exhibition
Rarely seen historically significant work from Jonathan Hope’s private collection of Indian and South-east Asian textiles, and newly commissioned pieces by three leading Scottish contemporary textile artists inspired by the textile traditions of India are brought together in Heirlooms, which runs until 4th September.
This exhibition is the first to feature historic Asian textiles at the Dovecot, and consists of two separate, but related, exhibitions. The exhibition in the North Gallery focuses on the historic links between India and Java, whilst the exhibition in the South Gallery focuses on the new work.
Weaving demonstrations are: 11.00am-1.00pm & 2.00pm-4.00pm on Tuesday 16 August, Wednesday 17 August, Saturday 20 August, Sunday 21 August, Wednesday 24 August, & Thursday 25 August.