Story in a Fragment

On a trip to Toraja (Indonesia) last year I collected a boxful of Indian trade textiles in fragmentary condition.

Now that I look back at that serendipitous encounter with that box, I feel that the story is as intriguing as the collection in that box.

So my exploration of the fascinating culture of Toraja, was focused on finding textiles being used in ceremonies. In my enquiry I spoke to families, one priest (or shamans as the older authors like to call them), to guides and to dealers. And in speaking to dealers, it is impossible to remain saintly and stay away from shopping. So I bought this and that.

It is a small place so the dealers are few and it was easy to have long conversations with them. One dealer in particular was the son of an older collector-dealer and now sold new handicraft items. As I looked around his wares, I asked him maybe 4-5 times if he had any antique things. Though he was busy, my nagging questions must have rung a bell because eventually he remembered that he had 2 boxes in his warehouse from his father’s days that “might” have old material.

He said that his late father had collected many antique textiles in his old shophouse that had a tragic fire decades ago. Much of the material was destroyed but a few things had survived. This included some stacks of long folded textiles that they were able to save. The textiles burnt along the fold lines of the stack of fabric and what remained are the central squares with burnt edges. These textiles needed to be cleaned and assessed but in the chaos that followed the disaster, they were put into a box and put away. Eventually his father passed away over a decade ago and the boxes were forgotten. Until I came along and nagged him.

It was around lunch time and I asked him if he could go right away and check these boxes – but he made excuses and said maybe he’d go after dinner or in the morning and let me know. He wasn’t even sure if he would be able to locate the boxes and find anything.

My hopes began to fade .. because that’s how just how many of my stories of excited fervor end….It is hard, but I tried to forget about the whole episode.

The story had whetted by appetite and the hope of finding something was intense.

The next morning my guide had planned for us to visit a funeral ceremony in a far off village so we were to leave right after breakfast. At 8.47 am while eating breakfast at the edge of a paddy field I received a photo from the dealer. This is the screenshot along with his message.

As I zoomed in an took a closer look my heart skipped a beat. For somewhere, sometime in the past I’d seen similar patterns in some books and I could see that these were treasures, even if they were fragments.

So much to the surprise of the guide and the driver, and despite their protests, the plans changed and we rushed to the location. I spent two precious hours (precious because the guide wanted me to get to the ceremony in time) sifting through the box.

After a round of negotiations I left with the box with great excitement – I couldn’t wait to study each little piece properly. Some were painted – some were printed, all were damaged and natural dyes in all were gorgeous!

That day I also saw the most phenomenal ceremonies in the village. There have been less than a dozen days in my life that have been equally dazzling in the stimulation they offered my mind, my soul and my senses …and the textiles had a role to play in that.

This reminded me the time I had gotten so jealous when a large hoard of antique rugs had been discovered in a mosque in a sealed off room in Turkey or somewhere similar. I had not even seen the rugs but the enigma of such a find had made me very envious. My lament that such luck would probably never come my way caused me deep pain even though it was absurd.

And then *this* happened. It shocked me that such luck had indeed found me. That I was blessed to get a similar story in my journey.

These textiles are now with me. Some have moved on to other collectors and many remain with me still. And though I used to be no fan of fragments, the colors and the texture have changed me irreversibly.

“Once in a while the unexpected happens. Once in a while the universe listens to your deep desires. And dreams come true…”

See the fragments – that give me a halo of feeling very fortunate every time I think of them – on the wovensouls gallery here: LINK

Similar examples examples that have been dated to 15th century and earlier may be seen in

1) The Ashmolean Museum collection

2) The Kelsey Museum collection in Ann Arbor

3) ‘Master Dyers to the World’ by Mattiebelle Gittinger

4) ‘Woven Cargoes’ by John Guy

5) The Tapi Collection

Do take a look!

BACK TO TORAJA TALES

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jaina mishra / wovensouls