Exhibition at Majlis Gallery

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Dubai Shopping Festival, the Dubai International Women's Club (DIWC) has organised a unique exhibition titled 'Social Fabric - Tapestries which Tell Stories'. The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Majlis Gallery and features textile panels hand made by artists and women's groups based in Dubai. The beautiful panels reflect the multicultural nature of the UAE as well as the 'One World, One Family, One Festival' theme of the DSF. The exhibition opens at Majlis Gallery on January 26 and will continue till February 3, from 9.30am to 8.30pm.

The concept of this exhibition is based on a project that was initiated in 1991 by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London. Known as the Shamiana: The Mughal Tent, it was intended as a forum for showcasing textile panels handcrafted by South Asian women living in Britain. But the idea was so popular that eventually the special 'shamiana' or tent set up in the gardens at the V&A featured panels made by women from many different countries. At that time, the UAE was the only country from the Middle East to be represented at this exhibition, through two panels made by Dubai based women's groups. The two UAE panels also travelled to several places all over the world as part of the V&A's exhibition.

The two original UAE panels from the V&A's exhibition are part of the exhibition at the Majlis Gallery in addition to several other panels especially crafted for this exhibition. One of the original panels is titled 'The Open Door' and depicts various aspects of the past and present of Dubai. It shows familiar landmarks of Dubai and various aspects of the culture and architecture such as wind towers, palm trees, ethnic costumes, mosques, pearling and sailing. The traditional door at the centre provides a glimpse of the skyline of modern Dubai, while an aeroplane and a falcon flying above the wind towers sum up the two faces of modern Dubai.

"Nine women from eight different nationalities worked on this panel for several months. We wanted to show how old world values live alongside a modern and progressive society in Dubai. Well-known artist Tina Ahmed designed the panel and every part of the collage was made by hand including the woven braids for the edges, the embroidered strips for buildings and the 'talli', a traditional embroidery technique used by UAE national women to embellish clothes and tapestries," said Mariam Behnam, senior advisor to the DIWC and the driving force behind this exhibition.

The second panel called 'Al Dalal' was also designed by Tina Ahmed. This one depicts the preparations for a traditional Arab wedding and was created by the Tebra art group, a group of young UAE national women. It took the young women a year to recreate the elaborate attire and jewellery of the young bride.

Two panels depicting Indian culture have been created for the exhibition. Veena Asnani's panel depicts the colours, beautiful costumes, architecture and culture of India. She has used rich Indian brocades, traditional bandhini fabrics, peacock feathers, mirrors and sequins to celebrate the beauty and diversity of her country. Alka Katya's panel depicts a traditional Rajasthani puppet show.

Egyptian artist and art teacher Zainab Al Habbashi has depicted the history of her country's ancient culture in her panel. Beautiful hand-painted silk screen panels depicting King Tutankhamun, traditional Egyptian houses and other well-known Egyptian symbols are arranged on a backdrop of the three pyramids on this artwork.

DIWC members have also created a panel titled 'Harmony'. The club has members from over 35 different nationalities and a group of 13 women got together to create this panel that depicts unity in diversity, thus reflecting the true spirit of the club as well as that of Dubai and the DSF. Mara Thorson, a resident of Sharjah has also created a panel for this exhibition.

"In the olden days women would often get together to create handmade tapestries and other decorative objects. Besides encouraging creativity and developing aesthetic sensibilities, activities such as these also fostered friendship, unity and peace within a community. It is sad that today nobody has the time for such pursuits. The true value of this project was that it brought women from different backgrounds together with a common goal. Through this exhibition the DIWC seeks to foster intercultural understanding and strengthen the social fabric of the UAE and the world," said Behnam.

The Dubai Shopping Festival 2005 runs between January 12 and February 12, 2005.