British Sari Story India Now family day at V&A
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An exciting glimpse of a major exhibition opening at Brent Museum this autumn will be available at the V&A on 2 September at the British Sari Story India Now Family Day.
The British Sari Story, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and staged by Bridging Arts (www.bridging-arts.com), celebrates South Asian heritage through the sari, the wonderful garment worn by South Asian women everywhere. It presents traditional saris from around South Asia and brand new saris with 21st century designs, the result of a national competition for patterns reflecting British Asian life today.
The British Sari Story India Now Family Day will be a raft of activities celebrating contemporary India, part of the Mayor of London’s India Now celebrations. It will be possible to create your own sari patterns, try on saris and learn more about India today through a programme of cultural talks, music, dance and story-telling.
“This should be a fascinating day and provide a glimpse of what will be available at Brent Museum later in the month,” says Bridging Arts director Susan Roberts. “Two of the patterns on the winning shortlist will be on display and there will be a chance to chat to their designers before the overall winner is announced at the Brent exhibition opening. There will also be draping demonstrations by Sital Punja of Sari UK Ltd and sari pattern workshops by artist Helen Scalway, whose drawings will feature in the exhibition.”
A highlight of the day will be an informal Question and Answer session in the V&A’s lecture theatre with acclaimed author Mukulika Banerjee, who co-authored The Sari (2003), and a panel of women who wear saris daily.
The British Sari Story exhibition will open at Brent Museum on 28 September 2007 when the overall winner of the national competition will be announced. Besides showcasing traditional and new saris, the exhibition will display saris collected by children at Barham Primary School, Wembley, chosen because of their particular significance to their families. An Education Pack has been developed around this work.
Alongside the new and old saris will hang intricate drawings by artist and researcher Helen Scalway of fabric patterns and life inside a sari shop in Tooting, south London.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
1. For more information about the British Sari Story India Now Family Day at the V&A, email Susan Roberts at info@bridging-arts.com or call 020 8749 9010 or 0794 12 52 444.
Bridging Arts works with art, photography and design to raise awareness of issues central to people’s lives and trigger debate. Visit www.bridging-arts.com or www.britishsaristory.org.uk for more information.
2. More about Helen Scalway, whose drawings inspired the competition, can be found on www.patternpatois.co.uk. Helen’s work records both the rich patterns of fabric and a complex cultural heritage. It forms the background to a major research project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), to investigate the presence of South Asian clothes and textiles in British culture in both colonial and post colonial times using pattern as an approach to enhance understandings of contemporary Diaspora space.
3. A private launch for the exhibition will be held on 27 September 2007. For more information, email news@bridging-arts.com or call 0795 172 6864.
4. For more information about Brent Museum and its programme of activities visit www.brent.gov.uk/museum or call 020 8937 3602. Brent Museum is a free, brand new Council run museum dedicated to the history of the borough. The museum recently relocated to Willesden Green Library Centre, High Road, Willesden Green, NW10 2SU.
4. The British Sari Story is part of India Now, the London-based celebration from July to September 2007 of everything Indian, both past and present. More on the Mayor of London’s website.
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