Celebrating Indian silks

An exhibition of rare handloom sarees by Kushma Ram

delhi designer Kushma brings to Australia another captivating display of traditional hand woven sarees.

Kushma Ram spends her time between Australia and India and has been bringing Kay Collections Saree exhibitions to our shores over the last few years. Many of the exhibition sarees have won national awards.

Kushma Ram works with weavers in different weaving regions to recreate traditional sarees using centuries-old hand loom traditions and techniques.

The handloom art form

A good hand woven saree could take up to two years to create. Weavers painstakingly work through the warp and the weft yarns, infusing designs and patterns only from memory, to create masterpieces.

The Kay Collections Celebrating Indian Silks 2013 Exhibition presents a variety of weaving patterns on silks, which reflect the rich cultures and traditions of weaving communities.

For example, the baluchari sarees portray great romances in history, or significant events reflected in the epics such as the Ramayan

The ikat and bomkai sarees from Odisha reflect motives of plants and animals from the surroundings of the weavers. The madhubani sarees from the Madhubani district of Bihar reflect stories of changing seasons and celebrations of life.

Hand weaving is a rapidly dying art form and fewer master weavers remain today. By bringing this art form to international audiences, Kay Collections helps to preserve it.

Celebrating Indian Silk exhibition

The 2013 exhibition presents handwoven silk sarees from Benares, Bengal, Kanchipuram and other weaving regions. All sarees are unique to this exhibition.

Through these exhibitions, Kushma Ram presents the diversity, vibrancy and unique traditions of India seen through the eyes of weavers and that Kay Collections works with.

The exhibition is an event for the whole family. It is an opportunity to learn about the different weaving techniques and how they are used to capture moods and events.

These exhibitions play a small part in presenting Indian culture to Australian audiences and making its contribution to preserving the fast disappearing art form.

Exhibitions

10am-7pm, 11-13 October 2013

Quality Suites D’Olive View 454 Point Cook Road Point Cook, VIC

10am-7pm, 25-28 October 2013

Waverley International Hotel

301 Springvale Road Glen Waverley, VIC