Textile Talks at the Powerhouse Museum

Coming up this week are two illustrated talks at the Powerhouse Museum on Sunday 30 March and on Wednesday 2 April (free with museum admission, no bookings required).

Sunday 30 March, 2pm, Camel Caravan
with Susan Scollay associate of Josephine Powell,
Contributing Editor of HALI

Josephine Powell, who recently died at the age of 86 years, was a renowned American photographer and ethnographer who spent the last thirty years of her long and extraordinary life based in Istanbul. Her mission was to document the life of Turkey's dwindling population of carpet weaving nomads and to form a collection of tribal weavings. Her aim was to leave behind a body of work that would enable future generations to know about a textile culture and way of life that was fast disappearing. In this talk Susan Scollay will show slides taken by Josephine in the late 1980s during the summer migration of the Saçıkara tribe in Anatolia. It was the last time this group of nomads used camels rather than motorised transport on their annual trek. Susan will also show images of the major exhibition of Josephine's kilim collection displayed at the Yildiz Palace in Istanbul in April 2007.

Wednesday 2 April, 12.30pm
Embroidery from the Powerhouse Museum collection
with Christina Sumner Principal Curator, Design and Society

The Powerhouse Museum's embroidery collection is richly diverse and representative of the majority of the world's great embroidery traditions. This talk, illustrated by examples from the collection, offers an introduction to this highly decorative aspect of our specialist textile holdings. Embroidery is typically ornamental; it is also often used to strengthen a fabric and, when decorating clothing, may convey information about the wearer's social circumstances. The Museum's embroidery collection has been growing steadily since the early 1880s; the objects chosen for this talk reflect a range of materials, techniques and cultures and include 17th century English beadwork, a child's hat from Afghanistan, an early Tasmanian sampler, a late 19th century American quilt, a Japanese wrapping cloth, a raphia dancing skirt from Zaire, a gold-encrusted Punjabi waistcoat, and an Akira Isogawa dress.

These talks are part of the Powerhouse Museum Talks After Noon program. For other talks and more information go to www.powerhousemuseum.com/whatson