The gamchha’s versatality is the core of this multimedia exhibition in New Delhi

The gamchha is usually a handkerchief, scarf, towel, sheet, garment, and even a blanket. The multipurpose chequered material synonymous with India’s working class is especially noticeable within the heat and humid areas of East and Southeast Bangladesh, Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala the place it’s used to wipe sweat or worn on the pinnacle to cut back the impact of warmth.  

The utilitarian nature of the textile has been documented by way of the multimedia exhibition Gamchha: The Extraordinary within the Peculiar by Dastkari Haat Samiti (DHS). The checkered cotton material – an omnipresent image for the poorest in society —can also be a marker of identification and resilience.  

This isn’t the primary time DHS has engaged with the material. In 2015, the organisation had commissioned ladies weavers in Phulia, West Bengal, to create 100 gamchha saris. “This material is tied to an auto or cycle rickshaw, or labourers wrap it round their heads. It may be additionally used as a child hammock,” says Jaya Jaitly, president, Dastkari Haat Samiti. “I wish to discuss with the gamchha because the ‘Swiss Military knife of the material kingdom’ due to its many makes use of.” 

“Throughout COVID-19, when migrant labourers had been going again to their villages, everybody seen them carrying the gamchha. In any other case it has been a uncared for material,” she says. “It’s time for the gamchha to step into the highlight.” 

Past its conventional type, the gamchha is getting a up to date makeover by designers
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association

This prompted the DHS crew to kickstart the undertaking, they usually went across the nation on the lookout for varied gamchhas for this exhibition. Whereas they discovered 400 variants, the exhibition has 230 items mounted on cane and bamboo constructions crafted by Nationwide awardee and grasp craftsman, Vivekanand Bagchi.  

Its many iterations

Whereas most gamchhas have checks, others are striped or in a single color with a easy border and can be utilized both for each day functions or ceremonial use. In Tamil Nadu, the material goes by the identify thundu and is obtainable in shades of pink, orange, gray and mustard, with smaller checks. However, the gamocha from Odisha has glimpses of ikkat.  

In Karnataka, if somebody aside from a labourer wears the gamchha, regionally often called haigal meli, they’re teased. “They’re requested to not faux to be exhausting staff. It’s a query of sophistication distinction,” highlights Jaitly.  Kerala’s white thorthu towel assumes the position of the gamchha. It has the chutty (little motif) that exhibits the tip of 1 thorthu and the start of one other, she factors out.  

An set up on the exhibition
| Picture Credit score:
Geetika Sachedv

Within the Northeast, the gamphan of Mizoram, the innaphi of Manipur, risa of Tripura, shamla, khamti and ziro of Arunachal Pradesh are used to establish their wearers belonging to a selected tribe or having a selected standing locally.  The pink and white gamosa of Assam, performs a central position in rituals and festivals like Bihu.  

As installations

The exhibition designed by Suparna Bhalla of Abaxial Design additionally interprets the gamchha by way of artistic installations. Gamchhas within the Sky by origami artist Ankon Mitra interprets the ‘working man’s towel’ by way of his signature folds on paper, suspended on a ceiling.  

One other set up by Avishek Mandal, founding father of attire model Rias Jaipur, traces the journey of the gamchha over time. It has suspended shuttles that symbolise the act of weaving, whereas the warp threads replicate the passage of time. The presence of a transistor enjoying previous Bengali melodies is a reminder of its irreplaceable worth within the lifetime of a gamchha weaver.  

The checkered cotton material–an omnipresent image for the poorest in society–can also be a marker of identification and resilience
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association

Past its conventional type, the gamchha is getting a up to date makeover with the introduction of clothes, equipment and jewelry. Through the years, vogue manufacturers like Kolkata-based 145 East, Bihart and péro by Aneeth Arora have launched collections to honour the material.

Are design interventions like these serving to in democratising the gamccha? “It mustn’t lose its goal. I don’t need the gamchha to turn out to be like costly denims torn on the knee.,” says Jaitly. “They should respect the labourer, order material from the weaver after which make a garment.” 

The exhibition will run till March 10, from 11am to 8pm at Nationwide Crafts Museum, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.