Vanishing Traditions: Textiles and Treasures From Southwest China

   
   This exhibition at the Design Museum showcased elaborately embroidered and constructed garments, textiles and ornaments from the Guizhou Province in southwest China. The curator spoke at length about how at risk these traditions are of being lost, given that the province they come from has not indigenous written language and all traditions and crafts are inherited through oral traditions, from one generation passing it down to the other. However with the influx of modern culture and conveniences into this once isolated province, there is little incentive to keep these traditions alive.
     The Guizhou Province was isolated for centuries from the outside world, so life revolved mostly around the family. For centuries, women were the keepers of these traditions, and their sewing skills were of great social importance in their villages. Different styles and details of textiles and garments, (which were all hand made) indicated specific group identity in this Province.

    One culturally important garment was the sleeve panels, a major element on jackets. They are intricately embellished, referring to a  specific village or group. Many families have a large collection of them, collected over generations. They are part of a person's inheritance, making them an important part of one's cultural and ancestral identity.
     Though improved personal well-being came with modernity, so did the loss of cultural purity. With more affordable consumer products, there is less incentive to protect and be a part of their identities when it's more convenient to buy a cheap quality, factory-made garment than spend thousands of hours sewing and embroidering a silk jacket.
    In this case, design identifies one with a certain group or area, and connects one to their ancestral and cultural identity. What does it mean for the people in the Guizhou Province to lose that part of their identity? We are not only losing the culture that comes with that oral tradition of design but the values that come with it. What does it mean when people are no longer willing to commit thousands of hours of care and attention to make those incredibly detailed, beautiful garments? Could that lack of care in design indicate a careless society, rushing forward without looking back, ravenous to consume every new technological convenience that comes our way?
   In a society that is rushing towards uniformity, how to we preserve culture? Cultural purity is impossible, but we should still preserve these traditions, and adapt them to the 21st century, so that they can live on in relevance.

Photos Courtesy of http://designmuseum.ucdavis.edu/