This new exhibition narrates the cultural history of sarees through nine stories

Presented by the Registry of Sarees, ‘Red Lilies, Water Birds—The Saree in Nine Stories’ takes a look at how sarees and textiles enable a broader cultural dialogue in India

The saree is something that the Indian subcontinent is so proud to call its own. This nine-yard-long unstitched drapery is perhaps the most versatile garment, and is culturally adopted by women (and men) across religions and ethnicities in South Asia. Each region in India has its own version of wearing a saree, represented through different textiles and drapes. With the wealth of history of textiles that India is associated with, the Registry of Sarees, a Bengaluru-based research and study centre, has taken it upon itself to showcase, educate and preserve this knowledge via storytelling, and that is what their new exhibition, ‘Red Lilies, Water Birds–The Saree in Nine Stories,’ is all about.

Held against the backdrop of the village of Anegundi in Hampi, the exhibition, which features a selection of 108 sarees and draped garments, is narrated through nine themes, each representing a period of a century (from the late 19th century to the early 20th century). The exhibition also comprises textiles from India’s most prominent handloom centres, including Kanchipuram, Venkatagiri, Chanderi, Paithan, Patan, Varanasi, Murshidabad and Sambalpur. We spoke to Mayank Mansingh Kaul, writer, textile expert, and curator of the exhibition, to understand more.

How did you interpret the ‘nine stories’ of the saree for this exhibition?

The exhibition presents 108 textiles—sarees and draped garments—from the collection of The Registry of Sarees (TRS) that were acquired over the last five years. They are a part of the permanent collection at the TRS study centre in Bengaluru and represent an overview of important handloom traditions of India. At a time when Indian handlooms are identified through the geographical states they are intrinsic to, the narrative looks at common cultural and technical aspects to present how these traditions are shared across regions and communities. 

Largely composed of handwoven textiles, the themes encompass aspects like the use of undyed or kora as a significant aesthetic in India, the use of the colour red and techniques such as ikat, among others. The exhibition ends with how a range of global design influences has historically impacted the saree during the late to mid-20th centuries. 

Where did you source these textiles from?

The textiles in the collection, and on display in the exhibition, are archival pieces representing a period from the late 19th century to around the early 2000s. None have been directly sourced from master weavers or artisans, but from other collectors and family collections, allowing us to trace their provenance to individuals who have used them in the past. 

What significance does the saree hold in our textile history?

The sarees and draped traditions of India’s handmade textiles represent a long history of complex manufacturing processes that can be traced back to almost two millennia. From this perspective, many traditions of handlooms, mainly led by the production of sarees, were employed for the making of other textiles that were ritualistic or sacred in nature, or for furnishing interiors. For instance, the ikat sarees of Pochampally and Putapakka in Telangana are believed to have emerged in the 1960s from a tradition of making telia rumals (a method for the oil treatment of yarn) for export.

As a researcher and curator, the saree carries technical and aesthetic information that relates to wider cultural developments, which further helped me locate Indian textiles within broader Indian craft and art histories. I am interested not so much in the saree itself, as much as in how it mirrors larger conversations and cultural processes in the Indian subcontinent. 

As a textile curator, how has your view of sarees evolved over the years?

When I started working with Indian textiles around 15 years ago, I was more interested in the saree as a preferred garment for Indian women as formal or occasional wear, in the evolution of its drapes, the interpretation by Indian designers and so on. Today, I am interested in its technicalities and cultural and personal histories and how it reflects those of the people who wear sarees and find meaning in them. 

What are some of the exhibition’s key elements?

The exhibition is narrated through a walkthrough, so it is as much a visual experience as it is about the oral tradition of storytelling. Since photography is not allowed, I would urge the viewers to focus on the visceral experience and the emotions that the exhibits invoke rather than a need to document it.

What do you hope people take away from this exhibition?

Our main aim is to take textile archives to artisan and craft centres where formal museums for such materials don’t exist. This is why we chose Anegundi near Hampi as the venue. Through the month-long exhibition, we expect local communities and weavers from the region to come and see the exhibition. As an independent curator, this approach is the focus of my collaboration with the TRS. Our previous collaborative exhibition from 2018, called ‘Meanings, Metaphor—Handspun and Handwoven in the 21st Century,’ held in Chirala, Andhra Pradesh, saw almost 4,000 weavers attend the exhibition.

What’s next for you?

I am curating an exhibition on muslin from the collections of the Devi Art Foundation and the National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum (Crafts Museum) in New Delhi, the first of a three-part series, in December. The second part, which is on the metallic brocades of India, opens just ahead of the India Art Fair in January. Then there are two publications that I have been working on since three years—one on the collection of silk sarees that belong to the late danseuse and theosophist Rukmini Devi Arundale from the Kalakshetra Foundation in Chennai (a collaboration with TRS), and the second on the paithani tradition of textiles in the Deccan (a collaboration with The Vishwas & Anuradha Memorial Foundation in Pune).

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