A travelling photography exhibition highlights weaving traditions of India

Ilkal sarees worn by girls in North Karnataka
| Photograph Credit score: Navaldeep Thareja

“You aren’t a Bharwad in the event you put on a saree,” is how aged Bharwad girls chide younger girls from their neighborhood. Navaldeep Thareja, a textile engineer from Sangrur in Punjab, who usually visits little-known locations throughout India to meet craftspeople, artisans, weavers, and tribal folks and picture paperwork their designs and tales, begins the dialog with Tangaliya weaves. The Bharwad girls put on Tangaliya shawls, woven by the Vankar neighborhood in Surendernagar and Kutch, Gujarat. “Tangaliya is a 700-year-old conventional hand weaving approach the place contrasting color threads are twisted into teams of 4 or 5 warps to create distinctive beadwork. It’s worn by married girls as a wrap across the decrease physique. It’s accomplished solely on wool historically, and girls put on wool by means of the 12 months,” he explains.

Navaldeep Thareja,
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

Navaldeep was in Coimbatore not too long ago to share his tales to an keen group of costume design and style college students of PSG School of Arts and Science. “It’s been 25 years of the division and they’ve invited me. I’ve documented the Dongria Kondh neighborhood from Odisha who craft Kapra Ganda embroidered shawls, made by the ladies to reward their brothers,” says Navaldeep including that nomadic teams like Rabari Grasiya Jat from Kutch, Gujarat and Lambani from Banjara in North Karnataka put on distinctive embroidered apparel, repurpose their jewelry, and sport physique tattoos.

Nomadic teams like Lambani repurpose jewelry
| Photograph Credit score:
Navaldeep Thareja

He additionally displayed quite a lot of materials that gave a peek into printing strategies like ajrak (Gujarat), kalamkari (Andhra), dabu (Rajasthan), and bagh (Madhya Pradesh) and additionally bandhani/ bandhej/ sungudi, an historic tie and dye approach from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Do you know ilkal sarees include two pallus in silk and cotton and that girls put on alternatively based mostly on the event? He asks and explains, “Ilkal is an historic weaving cluster that has its historical past courting again to the eighth century, originating on the Bagalkot district of Karnataka. The burst of pink within the signature fashion ilkal pallus is unique to this weave. The saree has a singular weaving and knotting approach (topi teni),” he says including that the motifs are impressed from jowar (sorghum millet) grown within the area generally known as tope teni whereas latthi gunhi designs are impressed from rolling pins utilized in kitchens for making rotis.

Navaldeeps offered his espresso desk books Todas – The Guardians of Nilgiris, Ilkal – Ilkal sarees, Sartorial Scenes from North Karnataka,Dongria Kondh – Kapra Ganda embroidered shalws and Tangaliya – Connecting Communities with Daana Weaving. “All the pictures in are a results of my travels throughout numerous areas of rural India the place I lived with indigenous folks for months.” His images have been featured in Lonely Planet India Journal, Nationwide Geographic India, to title a number of.

Nihang Singhs in indigo dyed clothes at Sri Anandpur Sahib – Hola Mohalla Pageant in Punjab
| Photograph Credit score:
Navaldeep Thareja

As he spoke of Nihang Singhs – the blue sikhs who use indigo for his or her attire in Bana, Punjab, he additionally received specifically curated samples that showcased the approach and the method concerned. “ I’m right here to share data gained from the communities. This makes college students accustomed to conventional strategies, cultural diversities and cultural identities. Additionally they study the necessity to use sources ethically, thought of reuse and reutilise,” says Navaldeep who’s now set to doc weaving traditions of tribes within the northeast. “There are a number of tribes, a number of weaves. Although language was a barrier, I’ve managed to set up a human connection. That’s the key.”

Comply with @behrupiaa on Instagram to know extra