The 18th century saw significant political, social and economic changes to the subcontinent. It was a time when the area, which once incorporated Pakistan and Bangladesh, (amongst other South Asian countries) was under the administrative control of the British East India Company. Numerous battles were fought and aggressive advances were made to dominate and control trade. In these eleven brightly hued and hand-embroidered panels of Jamdani textile, you will read the concerns, hopes and dreams of the artist as she considers the questions facing humanity today. In recent years, Bangladeshi artist Yasmin Jahan Nupur has worked with Jamdani, a centuries-old and disappearing fine weaving technique, which she uses to express individual and collective memories across time and space. Through the use of Jamdani, Nupur hopes to express the struggles that accompany this fine craft tradition. In this work, whose draping forms are inspired by the memory of freshly-dyed fabric drying in the sun, the artist has taken a new approach to working with the Jamdani by adding hand-embroidered text, bringing a traditional art form to bear on the contemporary themes she addresses in the work. The works are made up of summer colors, featuring warm shades of pink and a cool shade of light blue. Pink, considered a feminine color in many cultures, has also become a color of protest. The blue might represent the sky and the sea, associated with open space and freedom. Nupur interjects texts across the weave: What will happen if we break our chronological interpretation of history? Who says resistance is futile? I dreamed about walking in the sky. Text edit by: Lori Wood Read More