These heirlooms endure, but not for long

Aasim Akhtar’s private collection of textiles is on display at Koel Gallery.

KARACHI:

Aasim Akhtar’s romance with traditional textiles may be known to just a few people, but it is a fascination that has not diminished over the past 20 years. One simply needs to talk to him to get the feel of it in his words.

Vanishing Worlds: Enduring Threads is a private collection of traditional textiles by Aasim Akhtar that is being exhibited at Koel Gallery.

Speak to Akhtar and he will inform you, as if dictating to one of his students, “I started having a deep interest in traditional textiles from all across Pakistan, with focus on KP and primary focus on the Hazara region, about 20 years ago. It didn’t spring in my heart overnight. However, whatever catches my eyes I buy it from the homes where the heirlooms have been available.”

These heirloom pieces on display at the gallery include shawls for women, tunics for men, turbans and lungis.

The attire for women in his collection, he says, is part of the trousseau or their dowry. Poverty is the primary reason why these women are forced to part with these clothes, according to Akhtar, but that is not the only one he cites. “Sometimes, when something travels down from a grandmother to a grand-daughter, the latter has by then lost its emotional appeal. I would, however, always encourage these heirloom pieces to remain a part of their families.”



Akhtar says, “These are un-authored, anonymous pieces. These are not paintings bearing the painter’s name unto them. I won’t even call it a craft, but an art-work by people who made these decades, even a century back. We don’t get to appreciate this often.”

Akhtar laments the fact, “There is no fair amount of respect of these handicrafts, we do not write about the plight of these crafts-men, and fail to accept this as a part of our culture that identifies with us. Culture which is indigenous, vernacular that defines us.” He cites the example of Lok Virsa. “Have you seen how such pieces are nailed on to the walls [there] and there is no humidity control in the room to save this dying heritage?”

Back at home, where he has an entire collection, he says his mother does not even care for this interest of his. “My mother tells me to do away with them. Once I am not here, there will be no one to look after these pieces. Even the general public has a superficial interest in heirlooms. We only admire them at exhibition like these. That’s where our interest begins and ends.”

The Vanishing Worlds: Enduring Threads exhibition is on display till the March 17 at Koel Gallery.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2014.

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