Threads that Talk:
Woven Narratives from Changthang

Weaving is an integral part of life amongst the nomadic pastoralists of eastern Ladakh where both men and women weave on different looms, using locally available resources of wool and hair from their livestock. Women largely weave with sheep and yak wool, making fabrics for clothing, coverings, and containers. Men weave with goat and yak hair to make their traditional black tents, along with the saddlebags and rough blankets they use when travelling. Men weave with fibres in natural colours and do most of the cutting and stitching, while women generally dye the yarn they weave with and include designs in their textiles.

The craft is taught to everyone, barring monks, from a young age and is by far the most central and frequently practiced craft activity in this region. This is arguably because weaving is crucial to sustaining life on the Changthang plateau, from the tents that are essential as dwellings to the warm clothes and thick blankets required to withstand the extreme cold temperatures, as well as the variety of bags used to transport personal belongings, food items, and trade products.

Woven textiles and their making, extend beyond material concerns to express notions of birth, spiritual ideals, family networks, gender roles, status and social relations. Textiles are also markers of ceremonial and sacred space, indicators of political authority and changing trends.

The first part of this exhibition looked at various narratives from eastern Changthang, with textiles that relate to these. From the origin of weaving to the symbolism of the loom and livestock, design metaphors and spatial organisation with the tent. The second part, titled ‘The Final Migration’ focused on the work created by Divya S Dubey and a group of six women from Changthang. Their pieces are narrative textiles through which they recall tales of their childhood, the landscape of their home, objects of memory, as well as navigate their challenges and aspirations.

However, in recent years, life has changed on the Changthang and this has affected the making of textiles. While women continue to weave, many men have stopped. Children have moved away from Changthang for education, and the younger generation have taken up new occupations. Life is hard on the Changthang, and while transformations will undoubtably take place, it remains to be seen what of these stories will be remembered?