Starterpack To Get Back In Touch With Your Culture: South Asian Edition

Gain inspiration and knowledge for the art of jewelry and emrboidery in South Asia.

دیسی

کڑھائی

A lot of South Asian diaspora may be disconnected with the daily art in their lives, for example, clothing. Some may wear South Asian clothing on special occasions, but how the clothing is made is an art that usually remains back home. One word to encapsulate South Asian clothing is embroidery.

The image below on the left is my mother and on the right is a painting of her. How the artist portrayed the detailing of the dress is important because all of that is sewn on gold thread or precious metals. This is my mother's wedding day, so it's an incredibly fancy occasion. This depiction of embroidery in clumps is used by artists throughout time

The actual process of emboridery can be incredibly simple with just thread or very complicated with gold, accents, metals, gems, etc.

Sujani Kantha is an example of a stype of embroidery. It's a series of stitiches that can be used to create simple or more complex designs. Sujani Kantha is also used in the Sindh region to make colorful patterend quilts! Below are visuals of some of the stichtes. Here is a link for more emboridery tips

LINK.

زیورات

Sometimes more than clothes, jewelry is another staple of South Asian ware and art. Jewelry is usually been passed down by the women in a household for many reasons from sentimentality to historic financial security for women. The types of jewelry shown here are as follow:

  • The big necklaces - like in the earlier photos of my mom - are called Rani Haars., which translates to "Princess Necklaces"
  • The headpieces are called Matha Patti. or Tikka.
  • Different earrings have different names: the image to the right shows a Jhumka because they make a certain sound when shaking your head
  • The nose rings are called Nath

Many art renditions focus solely on jewelry as they're such a big aspect of South Asian culture

The aspect of decoration goes beyond humans and even extends to animals - the traditional get up for horses is quite elaborate and has emboridery within the bite and saddle

Music and instruments are also a big theme in art with these images showing a Sitar

Mehndi or henna is also a huge factor in art and style

Photography is also a more recent tool used by diaspora to utilize clothing and jewelry to feel closer to their culture. This is amazing work by @shaistadeen

Dating back to the 16th century, Hookah., has been used for heating or vaporizing and then smoking tobacco, cannabis, etc. This would normally be done in the central courtyard of the home, but now there are Hookah lounges in the cities which are more akin to clubs. This tradition is a heavy factor in art as now it has gained a reputation in the west

And last, but certainly not least, is chai. One of the main things becoming popular is the west is chai., or tea. It's usually done all wrong at starbucks or Trader Joe's. Here is a simple recipe to follow:

  • Add freshly ground up cardamom (or elaichi in Urdu), black pepper, nutmeg, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger powder
  • You can use equal measures of whole milk and water, but some people - like my mom - perfer less milk to make it stronger
  • Some people boil the water first, but they are wrong. Put the milk/water mixture on medium heat and add in a spoon full of loose chai tea leaves
  • Let it sit for 30 second to a minute then add the spices
  • Let it come to a boil and then simmer a bit
  • Turn off the stove and cover it for a minute
  • Run it through a trainer
  • Add sugar, if you must
  • Dip a rusk biscuit! in the chai, drink and enjoy!