Handcrafted textile possessions are far more than personal belongings – they are reservoirs of memory, family identity, and legacy. Passed down through generations, these treasured keepsakes reconnect families with their histories. With each new custodian, layers of lived experiences and personal narratives breathe renewed life into these textiles, transforming them into interactive carriers of heritage.
Through her paper titled Legendary Textiles and Their Stories of Continuity, Sareekah Agarwaal documents some exquisite Indian textile pieces lying unsung in the closets of select Indian families. Her work invites readers to identify culturally, socially and technically significant textiles within their own region, culture and country, and to begin documenting them before all evidence is lost to modernization.
The paper was presented at