Study visit: African textiles in the British Museum

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On Friday 19 April there will be a study visit to the African Textiles Today exhibition at the British Museum. This promises to be a colourful and thought provoking exhibition that takes a fresh look at the history and continuing significance of printed and factory-woven textiles in eastern and southern Africa. A wide range of textiles and related objects from the British Museum’s extensive collection will be on display, many of which will be exhibited for the first time. Creating and trading different types of cloth have been vital elements in African culture for at least two millennia. As well as displaying the changing fashions and tastes of the time, this exhibition also asks what these textiles reveal about the patterns of global trade, and highlights their influence on contemporary artists and photographers such as Georgia Papageorge, Karel Nel, Peterson Kamwathi and Araminta de Clermont.
The opening section of the exhibition introduces the history of textile traditions in Africa and their use as a means of communication. Many are printed with symbols and slogans that have been used as a coded language by the wearer to express ideas which cannot be spoken, e.g. warning a potential love rival to stay away. Some of the textiles also combine striking African design with intriguing political and social meanings, and carry a strong political message. For example some of the textiles have been used as a vehicle to declare war on HIV and AIDS, and contain inscriptions such as “We young people declare war on AIDS because we have the capacity and the will to do it!” Others more lightheartedly commemorate a diverse range of themes such as Michael Jackson, the Olympics, and the 2010 World Cup. The final section of the exhibition considers the history of textile traditions and trade, and looks at the origins of different types of printed cloth from various areas of South Africa. A Kanga decorated with hennaed hands intended for the large Indian diaspora population of east Africa is one of the pieces on view. The exhibition also highlights an unexpected link to Europe’s own material culture: a bale of scarlet tartan revealing the surprising popularity of this Scottish design classic among the Maasai warriors of Kenya and Tanzania.
We will meet outside the main entrance at 11.00am. After a tour of the exhibition there will be the opportunity to attend a free gallery talk by Catherine Elliott from the British Museum ‘Cloth(es) of the south: contemporary printed textiles and blankets’ in Room 91 from 1.15 – 2.00pm. Afterwards we will gather for refreshments and share our thoughts. The visit will end around 3.00pm.
If you’d like a place on this visit please email enquiries@oca-uk.com
Image From the series ‘A New Beginning’
© Araminta de Clermont, Cape Town, South Africa, 2009–2010