R E M N A N T S O F I N D U S

TRADITIONAL INDIGO dress, VANKAR COMMUNITY, KUTCH

this work has been a slowly evolving Collaboration with Ashok Siju of Bhujodi and the process of making the traditional garments. as i make everything by hand in clay i felt so at home wearing the very first dress that was made for me, with the light woven fibres, made with the indigenous cotton of my grandfathers land, using simple old ways…

the film shows the journey of kala cotton beginning on a charkha like that which ghandi used as a tool for peaceful change. the film follows the thread through to the finished hand stitched garment, passing through many hands within the community.

"Unlike neolithic shards of pottery, which retain their physical presence over time, textiles perish and so the evidence of their old ways pass on in the hands of living artisans”

In Kutch the Rabari shepherds and kala cotton farmers have a symbiotic relationship with the weaving or vankar communities. From the natural dyeing of indigo and plants to the Rabari embroiderers, the diverse craft traditions remain intact.

In the soft form of traditional garments, the textiles are symbolic to the survival of ancient seed and desi fibres made in techniques and ways that have existed in the nomadic and weaving communities in India for centuries even millennia.”

ASHOK IS AN ACCOMPLISHED AND RESPECTED INDIGO ARTISAN, he talks so much about how his indigo vats are living colour. The dress made in the film is even more beautiful in life, because of the depth of colour, scent, texture and care in its making. WE HAVE HAD MANY CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WHAT SWADESI (indigenous) MEANS to us and THE SELF RELIANT or sovereign, INDIGENOUS WAYS OF OLD INDIA. kUTCH IS IN THE REGION WHERE THE INDUS CIVILISATION EXISTED. tHE vedas, old sanskrit texts speak of indigo and cotton, of ahimsa a way of non violence. this community is a living lineage to many of the sacred traditions of the fertile lands of Saraswati river.

THANKYOU TO THE VANKAR SIJU FAMILY, FOR THE INSIGHT AND OPENNESS WITH YOUR WAY OF LIFE. 

FILM and image - SOHAIL WAZIR