Sewing Paradise: A Sisterhood Through Suzani Exhibition

Glimpse paradise through these special styles of textiles

Promising to be one of the most intimate and beautiful exhibitions of the year, the Sewing Paradise exhibit provides an intricate peek beyond the walls into domestic life in the gardens of Persia. Taking the essence of a suzani, and reinterpreting it through modern eyes and techniques, the resulting pictures evoke the same sense of harmony, blossoming beauty and secrecy.

Sewing Paradise: A Sisterhood Through Suzani is showing at the UCT Irma Stern Museum throughout July 2016. The contemporary female artists behind it are attempting to harness the balance between state and space with utopic images that promise a return to Eden. A suzani is an embroidered textile hailing from various central Asian countries, with the word suzani coming from the Persian word Suzan, meaning needle.

Typically, a suzani includes chain, satin and buttonhole stitching, and has flowers, the sun, moon, vines, and animals as its motifs. The gorgeous textiles usually formed part of the dowry of central Asian brides, intending to show dedication to future husbands. The idea was to bring the most delightful aspects of the garden inside, thus capturing the serenity and charm of the wilderness indoors. Irma Stern was a big flower fan and always had flowers in her home and her paintings – some of which will form part of this show. She also revelled in textiles, making this Michael Chandler-curated exhibition a fitting showcase for the Irma Stern Museum.

With a pleasing femininity, provocative beauty and untold intimacy, the show’s celebration of sisterhood is both sensuous and profound. Step into a world of intricate, delicate, astonishingly rich textiles from Uzbekistan, and the artworks they inspired.

ENTRY TO THE 2016 SEWING PARADISE EXHIBITION AT THE IRMA STERN MUSEUM

The museum is open from Tuesday to Friday from 10am until 5pm and on Saturday from 10am until 2pm. On Saturday, 9 July at 11am, there will be a walkabout by Manina Baumann and Azizbek Gulyamov. Every afternoon from Tuesday to Friday between 1pm and 5pm, Manina is available to chat to visitors about suzanis. For more information, contact her at +27(0)82 492 7971.

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Interested in other art exhibitions around Cape Town? Why not visit some of these Cape Town galleries as well?  

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