Kavand quilts created by the Siddi Karnataka community
“I thought about how the family had used my clothing, weaving memories of my visit into the quilt itself,”
The Siddi community is located in the Western Ghats of Karnatka. Members are descended from Bantu peoples from Southeast Africa that were brought to the Indian subcontinent as slaves by Portuguese merchants.
Anitha N. Reddy is an art practitioner and art historian who works with the community closely to preserve the art practice of making kavand quilts.
Quotes from Anitha:
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The women use worn clothes collected from the family to create them, ensuring nothing goes to waste… The material Reddy now procures is surplus export reject garments and fabric scraps from tailors, garment factories, and boutiques. While the size, shape, and colour of the material organically informs and shapes the design and composition of the quilt, Reddy also strongly emphasises how the kavands are each woman quilter’s vehicle of her unique artistic grammar and language.” (link)
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Since the European Enlightenment, “fine art” was elevated as conceptual and autonomous, while “craft” was framed as functional or manual. The artist was imagined as a visionary genius, while the artisan was reduced to a skilled maker. Traditional craft was coded as communal and repetitive, while modernist art was seen as individual and innovative. This divide carried the baggage of colonialism, gender, and class. In the kavand, I encounter a different truth: making is never only handwork. It is also concept, agency, care, and imagination. (link)
येरे येरे - Unique sounds of the Siddhis | Sneha Khanwalkar | Sound Trippin
India’s forgotten African tribe (BBC News)
Reviving the art of the Siddi Quilts
From the archive:
One week ago: Mohini on a Swing (Raja Ravi Varma)
1 month ago: Paper cutting (Khanjan Maru Soni)
4 months ago: Untitled (Ayesha Sultana)