Exhibition of Rare Asian
Textiles at Haverford College
Collecting Context: An Exhibition of Chin Textiles with
a Story
February 16 – March
25, 2007
Rare
textiles of the Chin peoples, a heterogeneous hill group
living in western Myanmar (Burma), northeastern India, and
Bangladesh, will be on view at the John B. Hurford ’60
Humanities Center, Stokes Building, Room 102, Haverford
College, from February 16 to March 25, 2007. Collecting
Context: An Exhibition of Chin Textiles with a Story
includes 13 ceremonial costumes and blankets, and historic
and contemporary photographs that show how Chin peoples
use these textiles, which are central to Chin social life.
Collecting Context is
unique in its dual focus on the objects and on collecting.
Chin sellers and donors of textiles, dealers, and collectors
work together (despite differing goals) to produce knowledge
and aesthetic judgments about Chin material culture. The
13 previously unexhibited (and some unpublished) cloaks,
loincloths, skirts, and blankets, along with the photographs
and multi-media display, speak to Chin cultural traditions
and innovations, and to the collector’s role in creating
Chin textiles as objects of value.
David W. Fraser, MD (Haverford
College Class of ’65) curated the exhibition with
Haverford faculty member Maris Gillette. Since 2000, David
and
Barbara G. Fraser have made seven study trips to western
Myanmar and northeast India to study and collect Chin textiles,
and have visited archival, photographic, and material collections
about the Chin in Asia, Europe, and North America. They
have published articles and a book on Chin material culture,
the prize-winning Mantles of Merit: Chin Textiles from
Myanmar, India and Bangladesh (River Books, 2005); the
Frasers also have curated exhibitions at the University
of Pennsylvania, Denison University, and The Textile Museum.
Dr. Fraser was President of Swarthmore College from 1982-1991;
headed health, education, and housing activities in South
Asia and East Africa for the Aga Khan Secretariat from 1991-1995;
and was Executive Director of the International Clinical
Epidemiology Network from 1996-2000. He is currently an
independent consultant on epidemiology, international health,
education, and material culture, and a Research Associate
at The Textile Museum and the University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Maris Gillette is
Associate Professor of Anthropology at Haverford College
and Research Associate in East Asian Art at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art. She specializes in Chinese material culture
and has co-curated exhibitions at the Peabody Museum and
the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Collecting
Context: An Exhibition of Chin Textiles with a Story
begins with a reception on Friday, February 16th from 5
to 7 p.m. It is open to the public, free of charge, from
noon to 5 p.m. daily through March 25, 2007. The exhibit
is sponsored by the Hurford Humanities Center, at Haverford
College, which was established to foster challenging exchange
among faculty, students, and diverse communities of thinkers,
activists, and innovators. The Hurford Center sponsors programs
that promote a deeper relationship between classic humanistic
study and contemporary intellectual, artistic, and ethical
currents in the wider public world. For further information,
contact Emily Cronin at 610-896-1336 or by email at ecronin@haverford.edu.
Rare
textiles of the Chin peoples, a heterogeneous hill group
living in western Myanmar (Burma), northeastern India, and
Bangladesh, will be on view at the John B. Hurford ’60
Humanities Center, Stokes Building, Room 102, Haverford
College, from February 16 to March 25, 2007. Collecting
Context: An Exhibition of Chin Textiles with a Story
includes 13 ceremonial costumes and blankets, and historic
and contemporary photographs that show how Chin peoples
use these textiles, which are central to Chin social life.
Barbara G. Fraser have made seven study trips to western
Myanmar and northeast India to study and collect Chin textiles,
and have visited archival, photographic, and material collections
about the Chin in Asia, Europe, and North America. They
have published articles and a book on Chin material culture,
the prize-winning Mantles of Merit: Chin Textiles from
Myanmar, India and Bangladesh (River Books, 2005); the
Frasers also have curated exhibitions at the University
of Pennsylvania, Denison University, and The Textile Museum.
Dr. Fraser was President of Swarthmore College from 1982-1991;
headed health, education, and housing activities in South
Asia and East Africa for the Aga Khan Secretariat from 1991-1995;
and was Executive Director of the International Clinical
Epidemiology Network from 1996-2000. He is currently an
independent consultant on epidemiology, international health,
education, and material culture, and a Research Associate
at The Textile Museum and the University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Maris Gillette is
Associate Professor of Anthropology at Haverford College
and Research Associate in East Asian Art at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art. She specializes in Chinese material culture
and has co-curated exhibitions at the Peabody Museum and
the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Collecting
Context: An Exhibition of Chin Textiles with a Story
begins with a reception on Friday, February 16th from 5
to 7 p.m. It is open to the public, free of charge, from
noon to 5 p.m. daily through March 25, 2007. The exhibit
is sponsored by the Hurford Humanities Center, at Haverford
College, which was established to foster challenging exchange
among faculty, students, and diverse communities of thinkers,
activists, and innovators. The Hurford Center sponsors programs
that promote a deeper relationship between classic humanistic
study and contemporary intellectual, artistic, and ethical
currents in the wider public world. For further information,
contact Emily Cronin at 610-896-1336 or by email at 
