The Hood Museum's newest exhibit, "Wearing Wealth and Styling Identity: Tapis from Lampung, South Sumatra, Indonesia," showcases the handiwork of generations of women from Lampung, a province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with an array of embroidered silk cloths and tunics traditional to the region. Complemented by walls shaded in fiery hues of gold, red and yellow, the Hood has managed to evoke a slightly exotic air for the exhibit, as images of Lampung and its people grace the walls amid the tapis-filled rooms.
Dr. Mary-Louise Totton, assistant professor of art history at Western Michigan University, curated the exhibit, which features tapis donated by Stephen Lister '63.
The exhibit celebrates Lister's singular passion and keen artistic eye. Growing up immersed in his family's wool business, Lister developed an unusual understanding of the various intricacies associated with the textiles as an art form. Lister also developed a connoisseur's taste for textiles in his numerous travels as an executive to the Asian Pacific for Colgate-Palmolive.
"This is all very exciting for us," Bortolot said. "It is the collection of one individual that has been a lifetime in the making, and we are honored to be able to add these amazing works of art to our collection permanently."
Painstakingly woven by hand, the tapis on display at the Hood speak to southern Sumatra's rich cultural heritage and distinctive approach to the art of textiles, communicating a story of ceremonial ornamentation and tradition.
Traditional tapis exhibits have a Pan-Asian influence, encompassing textile traditions from all over Southern Asia.
"Wearing Wealth," however, features only textiles from the southern Sumatra region of Lampung.
"By focusing on one tradition of textile art, there emerges a new level of focus and specificity within the field, something that is new in the tradition of South Asian textiles," Alex Bortolot, assistant curator of special projects at the Hood, said.
Traditionally, tapis are made from cloth woven by hand from dyed cotton and silk, sewn together to form an elongated tube and decorated with a variety of materials, including gold and precious gemstones. Designed to indicate a woman's family's wealth, her social station or her family's affiliation in global trade networks, tapis have served a variety of social and religious functions over the centuries.
"All over Asia, textiles and cloth have a very important place in people's lives -- it is the major medium for art and artistic expression," Bortolot said.
With some pieces believed to be possibly as old as 400 years, the collection of tapis hand-woven by the women of Lampung celebrates not only a unique form of art but a special opportunity to explore the culture of Lampung as seen through the eyes of her women throughout the ages.
