Exhibitions 21 RISHAM SYED


History as Re-Present-Ation (2014)


by Risham Syed ILLUMINATING INDIA


In her postcard-sized paintings, Risham Syed shows the ever-changing urban landscape in Lahore, Pakistan. Instead of idealised postcard images for tourists, Syed depicts the construction work which transforms her home city. Te recently built houses in Lahore’s new residential quarters have perfectly finished facades but unfinished back walls. She reveals these darker, neglected areas which are not for public view. Tis exhibition of her recent works juxtaposes these small works with life-size objects from the construction industry, such as iron rods and spiked grills, aiming to show a


city that is in constant flux. Other sculptural works, shown amongst


Manchester Art Gallery’s historic collection, include paintings inspired by newspaper images and diverse objects such as domestic ornaments and Victorian furniture. Tese works reference historical and political shifts in education, architecture and gender roles, exploring Pakistan’s cultural inheritance, collective memory and colonial history. • Until 25 February, 2018, at Manchester Art Gallery, UK, machesterartgallery.org


FIBRES OF LIFE


Te University Museum and Art Gallery in this exhibition, Fibres of Life, is presenting ikats from the collection of Peter Ten Hoopen’s Pusaka Collection. Ikat is an ancient resist-dyeing technique named after the Malay root meaning to tie or to bind. Te term can refer both to the process and the product. Tis type of textile is not unique to the Indonesian archipelago, or even to Southeast Asia. It has been, and in some cases still is, used in many parts of the globe, including Guatemala, France, Israel (where the earliest fragments of ikat have been found, dating from around AD 700), Yemen, Uzbekistan, India, Southeast Asia, China, Japan and even Patagonia, where it is used for Mapuche chiefs’ robes. However, nowhere else has ikat developed to the same level of technical refinement as in the Indonesian archipelago, and nowhere else has it been similarly endowed with such significance. Essentially a handicraft, in


Indonesia ikat weaving developed into a unique art form that is rich in meaning, and in many ways can be said to define the country more than any other manifestation of its culture. What ikat designs tell us about their weavers and wearers is worth understanding, as it provides a wealth of insights about social status and prestige, belief systems, traditional customs from marriage via birth to death rituals and other rites of passage. It also makes instantly understandable proclamations about social identity. Ikat textiles are rarely just attire; there is nearly always a spiritual dimension, and in many island societies the spiritual – the shamanic – is the dominant factor. Unfortunately, relatively few old examples of this ancient art form remain. Textiles in


Borneo (Sarawak), Iban people, Pua, ritual blanket, warp ikat in medium hand-spun cotton 1880-1920


the tropics constitute a perishable cultural heritage. Te warm and humid atmosphere, the abundance of insects, moulds and rodents conspire to destroy them. In the tropics, non-durable materials rarely persist more than 200 years. In the Indonesian archipelago, human conduct also accelerates the destruction. While the fine and often fragile old cloths are venerated as heirlooms, paradoxically, people often do not hesitate to use them as curtains to screen off ritual space and as pennants to decorate houses and temples, nor to fly them off poles and roof beams during ceremonies. A hole or a rip does not diminish the textiles’ perceived immanent power nor detract from their veneration, so little care is taken, ensuring that the wear and tear is continual. Ten there is the tradition, still adhered to on several islands, of taking cloths to the grave, especially those considered superior.


Te example of ikat published here is intimately interwoven with the ethos of


headhunting, the design features large spirit figures (antu) with skull-like heads. Teir scaled torsos are probably the weaver’s interpretation of the fish-scale reinforced jackets of Iban warriors. Iban weavers see themselves as operating at the interface of the physical and spiritual worlds. In the process of spiritually empowering textiles, they risk interference from supernatural entities. Te figures on the bottom row of this cloth, depicted with one crocodilian and one human hand, probably signal that the weaver was struggling with the spiritual power of the crocodile. Only a weaver of great technical skill and mental prowess could have produced a pua of such size and subject matter. Tis exhibition wants to send an alert to the current generations of Indonesians, collectors and scholars not to assume the role of guardians of this aspect of Indonesia’s cultural heritage, much of its great wealth will be lost forever. Te present exhibition is intended as a contribution to this project, and it is hoped that it will provide a stimulus for further efforts of conservation and documentation in all countries with important private and public collections, especially in Indonesia. Te work ahead is a vast undertaking, but it promises great rewards to those who make the commitment. Its effect will be to create new levels of understanding for an under-researched world of insular cultures that continue to have many admirable and wondrous aspects that can enrich and inspire our contemporary lives. • Until 26 November, University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, Bonham Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, umag.hku.hk


To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Independence of India, the Science Museum has created Illuminating India, two exhibitions that celebrate the rich culture and history of innovation in India. One exhibition is an ambitious and unprecedented survey of photography in India from the emergence of the medium in the 19th century to the present day – Innovation and Photography 1857–2017. Tis exhibition brings to light the previously overlooked Indian photographers, who worked in parallel with their foreign counterparts, from the 1850s onwards. Pivoting around two key dates: 1857, the year of the Mutiny and 1947, the year of Independence and Partition, it is an ambitious survey of the technological and artistic development of photography in India that examines the role the medium has played in charting the country’s modern history. Among the works on show are images by Samuel Bourne, art photography pioneer Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II, Henri Cartier- Bresson, and award-winning contemporary photographer Vasantha Yogananthan. Te other exhibition,


5000 Years of Science and Innovation, highlights the long tradition of scientific thought in India from the ancient past to the present day.


Self-portrait as a Shiva bhakt, circa, 1870 © Trustees, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, City Palace, Jaipur


Vernon & Co, Bombay, Imaginary Scene of Lord Curzon and the Duke of Connaught, Coronation Durbar, Delhi, 1903 © Alkazi Foundation for the Arts


It will look at the country’s expertise in observation, calculation and innovation, emphasising the importance of science in India as a way of understanding the world and creating a better society. A highlight is the recent discovery of the oldest recorded zero in history. Te Bakhshali manuscript, an ancient Indian text manuscript on bark, was found in 1881 in a village near Peshawar, now Pakistan and was later


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acquired by the Bodleian Library in Oxford in 1902. Recently carbon-dated, it reveals the manuscript comes from the 3rd or 4th century – about 500 years older than scholars previously believed. It is believed that this makes it the world’s oldest record of a zero, in this case as a dot zero, rather than the open circle symbol we use today. Translations of the text, which is written in a form of Sanskrit, suggest it was a form of training manual for merchants trading across the Silk Road, and it includes practical arithmetic exercises and something approaching algebra. As Professor of mathematics at Oxford University, Marcus Du Sautoy commented, ‘Tere is a lot of “If someone buys this and sells this how much have they got left?” throughout the text’. It also sowed the seed for zero as a number, which is first described in a text called Brahmasphutasiddhanta, written by the Indian astronomer and mathematician, Brahmagupta, in the year 628. • Until 31 March, 2018 Science Museum, London, sciencemuseum.org.uk Tere are a range of events organised to celebrate the Indian season, more details on the museum’s website • More information on UK/ India 2017 can be found on britishcouncil.in


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