As part of the Thread of Tales project, we visited the Weavers Studio Resource Centre in Ballygunge in Kolkata. Under the guidance of researcher and curator Subham China, the conservation team displayed a series of rare nakshi kanthas collected from all over Bengal, some dating back to the late 1800s.
Among them a white-on-white embroidered seating mat, a large quilt with multiple board games, a small mat depicting Bon Bibi and a rare ritualistic quilt with the Shiva trident and Laxmi footprints.
Weavers Studio, steered by founder, Ms. Darshan Mekani Shah, is the lead organiser of the exhibition Textiles from Bengal: A Shared Legacy which included several exemplary pieces of embroidery. The exhibition was accompanied by a comprehensive publication, edited in-part by Prof. Niaz Zaman and a seminar on the textiles traditions of Bengal.
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