SONGS OF SEASONS - AN ECOLOGICAL CALENDER
Natural dye textile, Drawing from photographs, Silkscreen print,
Hand-stitched text with wooden and steel hanging system
20-30 inches each, Set of 12
Twelve hanging scrolls depict drawings of edibles and words that loosely compose various proverbs.
Proverbs, locally known as “Khona,” refer to an ecological food table rooted in Bengali folklore, codifying and prescribing paryicular food produced to be included in the regular menu around the year. It tells of an intimate relationship between seeds, biodiversity and life formed by an indigenous and feminine knowledge and the women’s hands who preserve the seeds. Seeds and crop varieties result from daily interaction with nature, planets, stars, and poetry. The ancestral wisdom of "Khona" refers to an ecology where the human is only a part and not the exacting center.
The aliments presented are the signature of their origin: they are all part of traditional Bangladeshi cuisines. Each of them is the product of complex interplays between the formidable diversity of indigenous seeds, the richness of alluvial soils they best respond to and the enduring farming skills and wisdom it takes to farm them, which has been passed verbally across generations.
Seeds Shall Set us Free, Fotogalleriet, 2024
The fragility of the textile medium
reflects that of the ecosystems in which these edibles were grown. In the
dyeing, drawing, and embroidering of these textiles, Munem Wasif and the
artisans he collaborated with hint at the subsuming of nature under industrial
agriculture and how traditional farming wisdom can inspire a rethink of our
future.
In collaboration with: Sarah Jaben (Drawing), Md. Abul Kashem (Natural Color Dye), Al Amin Nantu and Hasnat Jahan Srimti (Hand-stitch), Nitya Upahar (Screen print), Loudworks (Design)
The production of the work has been supported by Fotogalleriet Foundation.