Exhibiting Indian and Ghanaian Arts in San Francisco
San Francisco
(with India & Ghana)
2019
As part of the Co-creating Hong Kong design exhibition organised by Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) and funded by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in San Francisco, Narrative Made is showing 2 collaborative projects with our artisan communities in India and Ghana. The exhibition took place on 15-21 Sept 2019 at Chandran Gallery, 459 Geary St, San Francisco.
Tsug Den Carpet Tse Ring features a rug made of hand-spun sheep wool from Kharnak nomads in Himachal Pradesh and woven by settled nomads in Leh, northern India. Rugs are key parts of the nomad’s daily life, used for ground coverage, sitting and sleeping on inside tents. The design and curated display on uneven ground highlight the changing landscape of society and how their traditional lifestyle is becoming irrelevant to the new settlement. The foundation they are given to build lives on is not a comfortable one. Intending to build up a self-sufficient supply and production chain and promote the sustainable conservation of nomadic cultures, Narrative Made works with the community through social enterprise KAL on storytelling, and cross-generational design and cultural development programmes.
Sapibre Gmegle are statement pieces that were woven with grass straws by the Fra Fra tribe near Bolgatanga in the Upper East region of Ghana, decorated by Narrative Made. They collectively send a message to highlight the inequality in craft engagement within the fashion industry. The straw hats are deformed to showcase the reduction of recognition to makers in this fashion industry and their limited profit margins resulting in restrictions in social development. To present the harsh nature of the context and the weavers’ daily experience and motivations, Narrative Made collaborated with cultural research institution, Antopia, to decorate the pieces with quotes of field notes from its research visit. Together with a team of Ghanaian development workers, Narrative Made engages the weaving communities for sustainable product innovations and advocacy work.
