Exhibits celebrate art of South Asia

These are some of more than 100 objects from the Indus civilization of South Asia that will go on display Sept. 19 at the Elvehjem Museum of Art as part of Great Cities, Small Treasures: The Ancient World of the Indus Valley. Curator Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, UW–Madison professor of anthropology, has conducted archaeological digs in the region for more than 20 years. He will present a gallery talk about the exhibition Sept. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the Elvehjem. Other lectures also are planned.

UW–Madison will celebrate the art of South Asia beginning this month with a display of artifacts from an ancient civilization first brought to light in the 20th century and a collection of historic and contemporary textiles from the region.

The Elvehjem Museum of Art will present Great Cities, Small Treasures: The Ancient World of the Indus Valley. The exhibit, opening Sept. 19, will bring to the United States for the first time more than 100 objects from the Indus civilization.

Meanwhile, across campus at the Gallery of Design, Tana Bana: the Woven Soul of Pakistan will illustrate that country’s textile heritage and regional artistic diversity. Tana Bana will open Sept. 20.

The art, symbolism and technology of South Asia’s first cities will be revealed through pieces of sculpture, ceramics, metalwork, seals, gold jewelry, toys, tools, ornaments and more.

There is much to reveal: The Indus Valley is at least as ancient as Egypt and Mesopotamia, and was not rediscovered until the 1920s, according to the exhibition’s curator, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, UW–Madison professor of anthropology. He has conducted archaeological digs in the region for more than 20 years.

“Although the Indus writing is still not decipherable, new research is showing how innovative and well-organized the people of the Indus cities were. These cities also set the foundation for later cultural and technological developments in South Asia,” Kenoyer says.

Kenoyer will present a gallery talk about the exhibition Sept. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the Elvehjem. Refreshments celebrating the taste of South Asia will follow. Other lectures are planned during the exhibition, which runs through Nov. 8. Check the Wisconsin Week calendar for details.

Drawing upon private textile collections in Pakistan and Wisconsin, Tana Bana will feature more than 60 textile and costumes from various cultures and regions of Pakistan.

According Tana Bana’s co-curator Mary Ann Fitzgerald, curator of the university’s Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, Pakistani textiles are as diverse as the people who create them. A special highlight of this exhibition, she says, will be displays of 20th century Pakistan’s rich textile heritage.

The exhibition’s other curator is Noorjehan Bilgrami, a textile historian and artist from Karachi, Pakistan. She will present the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection’s annual Ruth Ketterer Harris Memorial Lecture Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. in room 21 of the School of Human Ecology. A reception will follow the lecture.

Both the lecture and the exhibition will be free and open to the public. Tana Bana: the Woven Soul of Pakistan will remain open until Nov. 22.