The nine-day exhibition featuring the traditional art of weaving at Lok Virsa concluded here on Sunday at the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (NIFTH), Lok Virsa. The event, which attracted a large number of visitors at Shakar Parian, displayed some 32 traditional "Khaddis" (handlooms) under the Craft of The Month Programme of Lok Virsa.
The purpose of the programme was to encourage artisans to produce handicrafts using traditional skills, patterns and themes in an innovative way to ensure continuity, sustainability and preservation of these traditional skills. The exhibition titled "Tana Bana - Weavers of The Human Soul" portrayed the skills of the country's master artisans from remote regions of Pakistan with their authentic work in the specialised craft of weaving.
These artisans focussed on weaving linen and articles of clothing and common weal like khes, lungi, khatta, khaddar and sussi. Besides master artisans, students from Karachi School of Arts, who have recently done their masters in textile have also participated in the exhibition with their khuddis to display an amalgamation of modern and traditional weaving skills, creating hybrid novelties of patterns and designs. "Weaving is not only a craft but a mystic tradition associated with Sufis, who used weaving as a meditation practice as it consisted in transferring cotton and wool into cloth that provided comfort and cover to mankind against heat and cold, "Executive Director Lok Virsa, Mazhar Ul Islam told APP.
The world's earliest known woven cotton cloth was found at 5000 year old Moenjodaro site in Sindh where cotton cultivation is still a major farming practice. Hand woven fabrics became the leading industry and export in the Mughal period while the craft suffered immensely during the British rule as the Colonials wanted their machine made textiles to replace the indigenous handlooms products. The revival of small and cottage textile industries as an integral part of the economy of Pakistan began with partition and now it has become a craft of Pakistan which is respected all over the world.
From fabrics of all kinds to carpets, rugs and curtains the weavers in all towns of the country are producing the typical product of their age old tradition in the shape of khes, durrees, lungis, khaddar, banarsi silk, cotton and wooven cloth of all descriptions, stylish floor rugs and carpets.
Old methods of production following ancient traditions passed on from generation to generation are still alive in the work and skills of the handloom craftsmen.
The wide range of cotton and silk fabrics woven in Pakistan belong to some of the finest examples of this work in the world. The event aimed at providing a market to the traditional weavers, clients and patrons of traditional crafts without the middleman's involvement in the artistically designed cultural pavilions.
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