Celebrating textiles

Woven fabric is an important part of social activities for the Kuba people from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kuba textiles made of woven raffia palm are used as wrap-around skirts during festivals, performances and personal transitions, for example, passing from this life to the spirit world. While many cultures historically consider textile-making to be a woman’s job, both men and women make Kuba textiles.

Men grow the raffia palms, cut and dye the raffia leaves, then weave them into small pieces of fabric. Women do the embroidery, and patch-work different cloths and designs together. The elaborate geometric patterns communicate status, wealth and ancestry. The tight raffia bobbles are added to the edges of the textile to create more movement when the skirts are worn by dancers at festivals.

In contrast with the lesser status of needlework and fabric making in western art historical traditions, weavers had and continue to have a high status amongst the Asante. Historically it was customary for Asante men to weave Kente cloth, which is made from narrow strips of hand-woven textile that are sewn together to form the larger piece of fabric. The patterns and colours have symbolic meaning to people who understand the symbols. The patterns also communicate the wearer’s place of birth and their status.

Let’s draw

Draw part of the pattern from one of the Textiles on the exhibition:

Un-silencing the instruments in museums

Musical instruments incorporate both the material and the immaterial. Instruments are made from materials for players who beat, blow, pluck or shake the instrument to create sounds. When instruments become part of a museum collection, they are valued for their aesthetic properties and their connection to community. In the museum, the instruments can no longer be played so that they are preserved for future generations. They are safe, but also silent.

Composer Cameron Harris and curator Alison Kearney wanted to find a way to un-silence the instruments in the museum collection. Using electronic music software, speakers and amplifiers, Harris developed a way to play the drums without touching them. The sound piece Hidden Energies (2023) is composed from what the instruments sound like in their new life as part of the collection. To retain the sense of the connection to people, the sound installation is interactive.

Let’s find

Can you find the two interactive components of the sound installation?

Let’s talk

What difference does the sound make to your experience in museum? What makes you say that?