Sewing With Nancy

African communities are rich with artistic traditions. We may be familiar with their history and artistry of African people in the Americas but we know little or nothing about Africans in other parts of the world. We share the fascinating story of Siddi Women's Quilting Cooperative of India with Henry Drewal. Welcome, Henry, to Sewing with Nancy. Thank you, Nancy. I saw your exhibit from the Women's Cooperative Quilt on display at a quilt show. I was drawn to them by color. You have created exhibits from these. Share with our viewers how you became interested in working with this group of women. Well, my career has been on learning about and studying the history of arts of African peoples, both in Africa and in Diaspora in the places where African people have found themselves. My wife was going to do some research in India and she said if you want to spend some time with me you might want to get a grant to come. So, I followed her and went to India and got a grant and began to research African communities in India people who had lived there for centuries and now and these are their descendants. The quilts that are made in India by the women there you'll see a close up right now of the quilt that I'm holding, it has great color. Tell us how they begin creating the quilt. Well, in these communities, they are relatively poor. These are independent communities that live in the forest areas, the Western Ghatts. They'll use their clothing until it can no longer be worn. So they take remnants from the clothing of their family members. Then there are periodic markets of secondhand clothing that they'll also purchase things from. They'll get a sari that they put as the backing for the quilt. Once they have enough remnants and the sari backing they begin to make the quilt. It's a kind of visual documentation of the fashions of family members over a period of two or three years. I'm specifically holding this corner to remind myself for you to tell the story about how they begin quilting. Right, okay. Well, actually, they begin the quilting by going from a corner all the way around with a continuous running stitch until they reach the center to finish these quilts that you're looking at now. The center motif is just that, it's a show stopper, usually. Yes it is, usually. I like to think of it as a kind of design flourish where the woman is coming to the conclusion of this wonderful work and will put extra time and effort into the pattern at the very center. The maker of this quilt, we need to recognize her. Yes, her name is Khatumbi Musawar. She lives in the village of Mainalli. This is where the quilting cooperative began. The second quilt that you brought along with us has a great focal point in the middle that purple frame area. But in the corners, there's interest. Talk about the motif that's in most corners as in this quilt. Oh, right, yes. In most quilts, there are two motifs that usually occur. A series of shapes multiplied and in the very corner of the quilt, as you have here three of them, these are phulas, they're called phulas, which means flower. It's a piece usually with a distinctive color that is folded two or three times and then sewn. Now, this is where the quilt begins, at the corner. This is also where it ends because as I asked the quilters, I said, why do you put these phulas or flowers in the corner because this is the final thing that is done. They said, huh, you know, if we didn't put the flowers in the corners of the quilt, either one or multiple ones, like here, the quilt would be naked. That is, unfinished. Well, maybe we have to start doing that in this country. I think so. Adding flowers to the corner adds a nice detail to it. You bring these quilts to this country. They are sold. They help support the people who make them. Right. I've done two, actually several exhibitions of the quilts. One in New York at the Schomburg Center. Another one was held at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. I've held an exhibition of the quilts here at UW-Madison then you saw them at the Quilt Expo. Yes, they're stunning. Thank you for sharing this great program with us, Henry and for bringing this information to us. There's something we can learn from every culture. Thanks for being with us. Thanks, Nancy. If you'd like to have more information about the Siddi Women's Cooperative you can go to nancyzieman.com where you'll find all things Sewing with Nancy. You can re-watch my interview with Henry re-watch the program of today. Go to Nancy's Corner and click on Henry's name for more information. Thanks for joining me. Bye for now.