Wedding Blouse- 1950

Curator: This piece, titled "Wedding Blouse," was created around 1950 by the Rebari group. It's a striking textile piece, crafted with cotton and assemblage techniques. What strikes you most about it? Editor: The reflective quality! It has an almost celebratory feel; the small mirrors must have caught the light beautifully, and been quite dazzling to behold. Is that dark colour dye, or perhaps years of wear? Curator: That darker shade is likely dye. Indigo was frequently used in textiles of the region, highly prized, yet here's a reminder that color itself also involved laborious extraction processes and material costs for processing and trade, depending on the origin. Indigo would have likely arrived to the community as pre-processed raw materials, that the artist had to negotiate purchasing as they considered what to produce. Editor: And a "wedding blouse" – such a charged object! A garment embodies not just aesthetics, but also the rituals and social structures of its time. This piece whispers tales of gender, identity, and perhaps even resistance. This piece raises important questions about the cultural context, the female body, and power dynamics during a period of great upheaval and colonial legacies, don't you think? Curator: I concur completely. The Rebari are known for their intricate embroidery and mirror work; that craftmanship itself represents cultural heritage, passed down through generations. Considering this, there is also that element of high artistry, perhaps, which often get discounted by mass manufactured pieces, if compared, say, to an embroidered contemporary dress, that this one, as a garment made by a very skilled artist, embodies a degree of care in making, skill in materiality, and social values from its place. Editor: It definitely seems like a kind of armour, protecting a bride. Curator: Yes. This garment does more than just adorns; it performs. The tiny mirrors embedded are strategically placed, that the wearer may become center stage, at this one defining, special event, by the makers of her garment. Editor: Absolutely. As the audience, we should acknowledge our positions, how the meaning of adornment can evolve across communities, how design continues as cross-cultural inspiration through our collective history, where the values have been expressed with such labour and dedication. Curator: Indeed, this textile offers a chance to reconsider ideas of process and material within our everyday lives, while holding space for cultural significance, and perhaps, begin to think more closely about where those commodities come from, who makes them, and what lasting power is contained in materiality and consumption. Editor: Well said! Thank you.