Deering Estate Arts Eleven Voices Exhibit Catalogue

AFRICAN CLOTH COLLECTION Obama Commemorative Cloth Designed by Shine! Shine! / Tracy Rushmere / Heidi Chisholm South Africa 2004 Fan Cloth Mozambique, Southern Africa 1996 Mandela Commemorative Cloth Designed and produced by Vlisco Printed in the Netherlands 1994 African National Congress Commemorative Cloths South Africa 1990s and 2000s Umbrella and Prawn Cloth Mozambique, Southern Africa 2000s Chicken and Guinea Fowl Silkscreen Cloth Southern Africa, 2000s There is a strong tradition in Africa of fabrics and textiles being used to tell stories, commemorate important events, or even communicate everyday messages. ‘The cross-cultural usage of a particular cloth type – blueprint – is central to South African cultural history. Known locally as seshoeshoe or isishweshwe, among many other localized names, South African blueprint originated in the Far East and East Asia. Adapted and absorbed by the West, blueprint in Africa was originally associated with trade, coercion, colonization, Westernization, religious conversion, and even slavery, but residing within its hues and patterns was a resonance that endured. The cloth came to reflect histories of hardship, courage, and survival, but it also conveyed the taste and aesthetic predilections of its users, preferences often shared across racial and cultural divides.’ -Excerpt from Petra Mason’s Curatorial Essay

Deering Estate Arts Eleven Voices Exhibit Catalogue | Page 18