The Center for International Collections, located on the first floor of Alden Library, set up its cultural display exhibit called “Wrapped in Culture” in July 2024 for the 2024-25 academic year.
The display had an opening ceremony in October and will remain up until the end of the spring semester.
The display, titled “Wrapped in Culture,” presents a sprawling variety of textiles from across the nations of Africa and Southeast Asia, with uses ranging from multifunctional clothing items to beautifully intricate religious vestments.
The pieces curated were chosen to highlight the idea that in the aforementioned cultures clothing isn’t just for covering one’s nakedness, but rather is to be utilized for a spectrum of purposes, an idea largely overlooked by Western apparel design.
“Textiles are an interest of mine because in Africa textiles have a meaning, we use it to communicate,” Araba Dawson-Andoh, subject librarian for African Studies at Ohio University, said.
“It’s a tool for communication, that’s why I thought OK, maybe I can do an exhibit just to teach people about different cultures,” she added.
Dawson-Andoh, with the help of Jeffery Shane, the Southeast Asia reference librarian, and his wife Pittaya Paladroi-Shane, Ohio University’s world languages coordinator and instructor of Thai and world languages, pooled a collection of clothing articles from the CIC’s archives as well as their own personal collections.
Pieces across the African portion of the collection have unique purposes and mythology, such as the Bogolan, or Mud Cloth, of Malian origin. Its muted brown color and simple design stand in stark contrast to the vibrancy of its neighboring garments according to Dawson-Andoh.
“Traditionally, it’s a hunter’s cloth, people wear it when they’re going hunting as protection,” Dawson-Andoh said. "Also, women who have just given birth can wear it to protect them and the baby.”
The title of the exhibit, “Wrapped in Culture,” is more than just a play on words, Dawson-Andoh said.
“You wrap yourself in culture, because the materials or the fabrics, it’s all about culture,” she said. “It’s not just fashion, there’s a meaning to the fabric you're wearing.”
Paladroi-Shane spoke on the multifunctionality of the pha khao ma, also known as a krama, a piece in the collection. It’s a strip of cloth used traditionally by men as a head covering, a cover while bathing or tied around the waist when going to the Buddhist temples.
“It’s pretty much multipurpose,” Paladroi-Shane said. “The quality will be different, like cotton will be for a commoner, or for everyday life activity, and then silk will be more delicate, for a particular event.”
Large efforts have been made to preserve traditional textile artisanry methods in Thailand specifically, according to Paladroi-Shane. In an age of Western influence, Queen Sirikit of Thailand, in conjunction with the Thai government, has supported domestic craftsmanship and supported efforts to preserve silk weaving and production knowledge.
Displays like “Wrapped in Culture” are made possible by the CIC’s international programs which take students around the world and immerse them in new cultures. Many artifacts in the CIC’s archives come from these trips, either bought from artisans, gifted to the center or inherited to members.
Joseph Rovson, a freshman studying journalism, attended the opening ceremony of the display in October as part of an African American Media Studies outing.
“Multifunctionality allows for it to experience more, be a larger cultural landmark, it allows for more recognizability … it makes a piece of fashion more useful,” he said.
