Yesterday, Mark, Hanif, and I went to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem to check out Soulful Stitching, an exhibition of patchwork quilts made by women of African heritage who live in southern India.The women are part of a group of people known as the Siddis. They're descended both from early (1st millenium CE and circa the 12th century) African immigrants who traveled from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and parts of South Asia and from slaves who were taken by the Portuguese to Goa in western India.* The earlier settlers took jobs as merchants, soldiers, sailors, and administrators, and some achieved power as leaders in government, religious groups, and the military. The slaves moved south after escaping from their bondage, and their descendants were joined at various times by offspring of the earlier settlers. Today, about 20,000 Siddis live in a remote area of thick forests and high plains in the Western Ghats mountains.
The quilts are called kawandi and are made from old clothing of family members, so the colors and patterns vary greatly. The women use one or more pieces of sari fabric as backing material, and the finishing touches on every quilt are small bundles of square fabric that have been folded into triangles and sewn on the corners.
