Mon 14 sep – Tue 29 Sep
‘Crafts of Garba’ produced by Subrang Arts, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
This fascinating exhibition celebrates the crafts associated with the folk dance and ritual of Garba, recognised by UNESCO as The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
While often understood through movement and music, Garba is equally a story of craft. It highlights the craft traditions woven into the ritual of Garba—clothing, adornment, offerings, and festive decoration that shape the dance space and the body in motion. Every mirror-stitched garment, textile, clay vessel, and ornament reflects generations of artisan knowledge. This project explores Garba through the objects that make it possible revealing how ritual, textile, wood, and clay/bead crafts shape a living performance tradition.
A year long programme of various craft activities engaged local communities with artisans. These crafts shape the body, the shrine and the dance circle itself ensuring that they remain living, shared and relevant today in modern Britain. Together with these crafts, field research in Gujarat was undertaken connecting with local artisans and exploring how these crafts are practised in India and how different communities interact to make dresses, ritual pots, and musical instruments.
