Saturday, October 25, 2014

Textiles of Timor, Island in the Woven Sea

with

Roy Hamilton

Senior Curator of Asian and Pacific Collections

and Textiles of Timor exhibition co-curator, Fowler Museum, UCLA

Women on the island of Timor weave some of the most colorful and varied textiles in Southeast Asia. These cloths are a primary vehicle of cultural expression, and they continue to be made, used, and exchanged in ways that reveal deep social, religious, historical, and political meanings. Textiles of Timor, Island in the Woven Sea is the first major exhibition to focus on Timor’s rich textile arts. It showcases fifty beautifully dyed and intricately patterned cloths, including many from the Fowler Museum, which maintains one of the world’s most complete and best-documented collection of Timorese textiles. The exhibition integrates material from West Timor, which is a part of Indonesia, and the new nation of Timor-Leste (East Timor). While the recent tragic history of the region has promoted separate identities for the two halves of the island, this project highlights shared themes that are important in the lives of people of all of the diverse cultural groups on both sides of the border.  Senior Curator of Textiles Roy Hamilton will lead a gallery tour exclusively for TMA/SC members and their guests.

Roy Hamilton has directed the Fowler Museum’s Asian and Pacific programming for 22 years. His previous exhibitions and books include Gift of the Cotton Maiden: Textiles of Flores and the Solor Islands (1994), From the Rainbow’s Varied Hue: Textiles of the Southern Philippines (1998), Basketry of the Luzon Cordillera, Philippines (1998), The Art of Rice: Spirit and Sustenance in Asia (2003), Material Choices: Refashioning Bast and Leaf Fibers in Asia and the Pacific (2007), and Weavers’ Stories from Island Southeast Asia (2010).