Exhibit brings quilts from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan to UNL

What has existed for centuries in South Asia as a simple pastime among women has now blossomed 7,500 miles west at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum located on UNL's East Campus.
The exhibit "South Asian Seams" opened in mid-May and will continue through early November. The scope of the exhibit includes India, Pakistan to the west and Bangladesh to the east, and covers a region home to more than 25 ways to say "quilt." The exhibition serves to showcase diversity in quilt-making, both stylistically and in the lives of the quilt makers.
"We wanted to show an enormous variety of quilted textiles," said Marin Hanson, Curator of Exhibitions at the center.
As for the unusually large display, Hanson added that it was important to overwhelm patrons with the collection in order to convey what she and a colleague experienced last fall while visiting South Asia.
"You see quilts everywhere," she said.  "Here in the U.S., you have to go looking for quilts.  In India, they're everywhere just being used for so many things; it's easy to find them."
In South Asia, needlework and quilting are essential and expected skills for women, as quilting is used for all sorts of functions: rugs, dressings for animals, clothing and in two photographs on exhibit, motorcycle covers and tents for village meetings. The quilts are made for functional purposes within the home and family, though in recent years non-governmental organizations located in South Asia have sought to help local women and artisans produce their textiles for commerce.
Hanson added that quilts in the region are made for pleasure and for use in everyday life.
"They are very functional, practical and explore the beauty of life," she said.
Most of the quilts in "South Asian Seams" hang unevenly and are not precise rectangles, because the women sew them in their laps, rather than on stretched quilting frames, said Megan Huelman, a quilt study graduate student.
Yet Hanson and Huelman also said the quilts are some of the most vibrant the museum has ever had and are quite intricate, with what Huelman described as "copious amounts of quilting."
In South Asia, quilts are made from recycled materials and are referred to as either "ralli" or "kantha," though in Maharashtan, India they are sometimes called "gudari."
"They essentially just mean ‘quilt,'" Hanson said, referring to the differences in the names. "The main difference between ralli and kantha is where they're made."
Kantha quilts primarily refer to those made in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. Kantha quilts contain a lot of common imagery, such as the lotus flower, the tree of life and "pachisi," the national game of India.
Ralli quilts have characteristic borders to them, are more brightly colored, contain more complex stitches and appliqués, and are home to the more arid areas of East India and Pakistan.
Hanson emphasized, however, that both kinds of quilts tell the story of another part of the world.
"It's about diversity but also finding the links between traditions as well," she said.
"It isn't just about American quilts," Huelman said. "People are interested in quilts from other cultures."
"People who seem very different from us are really in some ways quite similar," Hanson said. The exhibition, she added, "makes the world a smaller, more intimate place."
emilywalkenhorst
@dailynebraskan.com