LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL: COTTON

Image: Collateral, Brigid McLear. Image courtesy of Lee Smillie.

Craft Council - Cotton: labour, land and body

Written by Ruby Wilson

Cotton is one of the world’s most profitable crops and, unsurprisingly, has had an important role to play in informing global commercial relationships. In particular, the cotton industry has widely shaped the relationship between Britain and Southern Asian.

This exhibition, curated by the Crafts Council in partnership with The Super Slow Way and supported by the Bagri Foundation, is entitled Labour, land and body. It thoughtfully explores the impact of cotton on historic and developing relations between Britain and South Asia through Lancashire’s cotton industry.

It will showcase a variety of works specially commissioned by the British Textile Biennial 2021 to capture and articulate the true impact of the industry on labour, land, and bodies. Featured artists include Raisa Kabir, Brigid McLeer and Bharti Parmar, all of whom explore structures of production and the development of global hierarchy in their work. Raisia Kabir’s woven piece, entitled ‘The art and language of weaving resistance’, for example, demonstrates these complex themes through both the weaving process and in the final creation; whilst McLeer’s work focusses on how images have the capacity to ‘act’ in the context of politicised art practices.


Image: Framed Indian Fabrics, Raisa Kabir. 

The exhibition aims to take visitors on a journey that accurately reflects the impact of the cotton trade on Southern Asian land and communities. Textiles, films and works on paper, such as punched ‘khadi’ paper that echoes Gandhi’s campaign to end British rule through the boycott of imported cloth, demonstrate the colonial history of British cotton.


Image: 'বুনন-শিল্প প্রতিরোধ ভাষা' 'The art and language of weaving resistance' 2021, Raisa Kabri, credit Raisa Kabir.

Poignantly, the exhibition seeks to convey how this troubling past continues to inform the cotton industry today, with the exhaustion of cotton pickers and modern-day garment factory disasters all paid due attention. ‘Cotton: Labour, land and body’ provides both a comprehensive history of commercial cotton and an important lesson on the impact that fabric production once had and continues to have today.


Warp and Weft, Punched Drawing on Khadi Paper, Bharti Parmar, credit Bharti Parma Studio.

Cotton: labour, land and body runs from the 17-24 September at the Crafts Council Gallery, daily from 11:00 - 17:00 BST.