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An exhibition showing 28 handmade quilts of cast-off garments from the desert villages of Kutch and 34 cyanotype portraits of the Kutchi desert women, contactprinted on handcoated cotton fiber paper from negative size 13 x 18 inch. Kutch is the westernmost part of India situated in the state of Gujarat and my first visit to this fascinating country is more than ten years back. I was instantly carried away by the friendly and disarming Kutchi hospitality and their way of living. I had before me a unique place offering something hardly to be found in the Western world so my first visit was soon to be followed by many more.
The idea of this particular story came to me in the winter of 1999 when I started to experiment with the old and time consuming photographic processes like cyanotype and palladium printing. As the images of the desert women began to develop with a rare presence on the heavy wet fiber paper I realized I had the key to a story about proud women and beautiful quilts. A story where quilts and photographs go hand in hand time-wise and texture-wise putting emphasis on slowness. A story made of love and respect, dedicated to my friends in Kutch always present with a genuine hospitality and a rare warmth completely unaware of the future awaiting them. Kutch was hit by a devastating earthquake on January 26, 2001.
Quilts & Portraits from Kutch was shown first time in Copenhagen at Mostings Hus August 2000. In February 2001 at the Filosofgangen in Odense and in 2002 at the Textilforum in Herning.
A colorful book with danish/english text dedicated to the same theme was released November 2004.
For further information:
Lene Bennike
contact@lenebennike.com
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