Muslin history revisited in month-long festival

The history of the once immensely popular muslin, a lightweight cotton fabric of plain weave, is being revisited through a month-long festival that opened at Bangladesh National Museum on Friday.
The festival features an exhibition, a cultural and fashion show, seminar, launches of a book, a commemorative stamp and a documentary on the making of muslin in Dhaka that had been home to the finest of its clothes for centuries.
Drik organised the event in association with the museum and Arong after years of research and investigation into the history of muslin and with the aim of creating awareness and exploring its future potential.
Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith inaugurated the festival on Friday. Among others, cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor and secretary Aktari Mumtaj, Saiful Islam, chief executive officer of Drik, Tamara Abed, senior director of BRAC, and Rosemary Crill, senior curator of Victoria and Albert Museum of London, were also present on the occasion.
‘Muslin had clothed the world’s aristocrats till 19th century. It’s an invaluable part of our history. The organisers [of the festival] have done an excellent job by bringing to the fore the lost art of muslin,’ Muhith said.
Noor, in his speech, stressed the need for reviving the tradition. ‘Drik has lighted the way that we can follow to get muslin registered as an intangible cultural heritage element of UNESCO,’ he said.
The festival is the product of a two-year research conducted by a team led by Saiful Islam that traced the roots of muslin and how it was manufactured and subsequently fell into disuse and so on.
‘We have tried in every possible way to unearth and collect historical evidence related to the fabric. Importantly, we’ve been able to create a new version of it called New Age Muslin, which is now on display at the exhibition,’ said Saiful Islam.
The month-long exhibition, Muslin Revival, brings forth an opportunity to see original muslin clothes borrowed from several British museums and a richly-informed display of the process of the making of muslin. The New Age Muslin was created by the research team with help from local weavers.
A research publication titled Muslin: Our Story, written by Saiful Islam, was also launched at the inauguration ceremony. The book, said Drik’s managing director Shahidul Alam in an introductory remark on it, ‘presents the past, present and future of muslin.’
The five local weavers who helped create the New Age Muslin were awarded honorary crests at the opening ceremony.
A cultural and fashion show titled Muslin Night will be held at Ahsan Manzil today while a daylong international seminar will be held at the Sufia Kamal Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Sunday.
The exhibition, being held at the Nalinikanta Bhattashali Gallery of the museum, will remain open for all until March 3.

 

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