Weaves of Wonder

A confluence of shared history, this Kolkata-based exhibit gives a rare glimpse of the lesser-known textiles of West Bengal and Bangladesh.

- By TANYA MEHTA

Bengal clothed the world,” says Darshan Shah as I speak to her in the midst of the first walkthrough of Textiles of Bengal: A Shared Legacy. Shah, a self-trained textile enthusiast and founder of the Weavers Studio Resource Centre, recalls travelling for symposiums and exhibits around the country. Amidst the lauded Coromandel chintz and celebrated fabrics of Rajasthan, Bengal’s textile contribution appeared vastly underrepresented. “Bengal has been impacted by so much—from the rise of Mughal karkhanas to the rivers changing course, Baluchar going underwater, and the extinction of the Jala loom. But how, when, and why? These questions churned inside me like a cauldron.”

An obsessive curiosity led Shah to helm this mammoth project, five years in the making, with its inception in the thick of the pandemic. The result is an exhibit that invites viewers to observe and experience many under-the-radar pieces with fascinating origin stories and significant cross-cultural influence. On view until March 31, the curation spotlights fabrics of visual simplicity, such as the gossamer Begum Bahar-wispy muslin coveted by ladies of polite society. The quintessential Jamdani, dipped in indigo and known as Nilambari, is displayed alongside a modern rendition of a vibrant non-repeat pattern specially created by Chinar Farooqui of the beloved craft label Injiri.

For centuries, textiles have conveyed powerful narratives. Behind their aesthetic beauty and intricate craftsmanship, lie stories that define the zeitgeist. This quiet storytelling is central to the curation, with each weave whispering tales of the quotidian and the mythical.

A TIME CAPSULE