Navigation auf uzh.ch

Suche

Ethnographic Museum

Hidden Complexities. Press Release and Material

Zurich, 9 December 2021

Embroideries, Appliqués and Pleats as Carriers of Cultural Meaning

The Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich is showing textiles made by Miao societies in Southwest China for the first time. The new exhibition Hidden Complexities showcases the complex textile skills and knowledge of Miao women based on 400 items of clothing, fabric and tools. And it reveals that there is far more to the stunning colours, patterns and materials than meets the eye.

The Hidden Complexities exhibition doesn’t open with fanciful colourful embroidery. Instead, visitors enter a kind of box that is entirely clad with indigo-dyed fabrics, the basic material which the Miao societies in Southwest China use to make their clothing. This opening to the exhibition was designed by Karola Kauffmann, who is a professional hand weaver, textile artist and former owner of the exhibited collection. “The various surface textures and the subtle shades of blue, violet and copper are meant to heighten the senses and to allow visitors to take a look at what’s behind the exhibits’ captivating exterior,” explains Kauffmann.

Overture: Extensive textile culture of the Miao

The diverse clothing culture and textile skills of the Miao societies are the focus of the first exhibition space. Visitors learn about various embroidery, pleating and appliqué techniques and can try their hand at some of them for themselves. Over the length of the exhibition, this will result in a collaborative new work.

Different exhibits highlight how the Miao craft has changed with time. For example, the Miao’s sewing utensils used to be kept in needle cases featuring elaborately folded, colourful compartments. Today, there are also sewing kits that contain custom-length threads and pieces of fabric along with step-by-step instructions. This side by side of old and new is a distinctive feature of contemporary Miao textile culture, and it is brought to life in the exhibition through a market scene typical of Guizhou province. The items displayed here cover the whole range from specialist needles to finished garments, and from machine-embroidered artificial silk to hand-sewn silk appliqués on cotton.

Outside perception: Clothing style as a common feature?

The passage between the first and second exhibition space is devoted to the outside perception of the Miao societies over time from a textile perspective. The term “Miao” has only been used since 1949 for distinct ethnic minority groups who today live mainly in Guizhou province. In addition to linguistic similarities, these people also share the same elaborate clothing culture. For centuries the region’s textile diversity has attracted the attention of travelers, writers and imperial magistrates alike. The exhibition presents three examples from different eras: Ancient illustrations for the emperor, Socialist New Year's posters from the 1950s, and contemporary tourist photographs of cultural events.

Self-representation: Proficiency with needle and thread

The second part of the exhibition focuses on the multi-layered textile skills of the Miao women. Based on a selection of children’s clothes, the exhibition demonstrates the full range of weaving, stitching, appliqué and dyeing techniques, and the diligence in picking fabrics and motifs. The children’s garments are arranged opposite 16 variations of the characteristic Miao indigo-dyed pleated skirts, in various stages of completion. The pleated skirts, which depending on the number of pleats require considerable amounts of fabric, are the clothing item that links all Miao women.

Between these two key components of Miao clothing culture, visitors can explore the manufacturing process, dyeing techniques, style and design elements, and dive into the vast expertise and artisanship that lie beneath the dazzling arrangements of colour and patterns. “Each exhibit is unique and carries meaning,” explains Martina Wernsdörfer, Chinese studies scholar and exhibition curator. “Wealth, social status and region of origin as well as individual taste and creativity are all expressed through the clothes.” The exhibition also covers current technological and social change processes and invites visitors to reflect on their diversity.

Hidden Complexities – Unfolding Miao Women’s Textile Skills
Exhibition in the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich
Pelikanstrasse 40, 8001 Zurich
12 December 2021 to 12 March 2023
Tue, Wed, Fri 10am–5pm, Thu 10am–7pm, Sat 2pm–5pm, Sun 11am–5pm

 

The exhibition opening will take place at 12:00 noon on 12 December 2021. Participation is possible on site and online; registration is required in both cases.


Download (PDF, 213 KB) Press Release 09.12.2021 Hidden Complexities

Contacts

Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich
Dr. Martina Wernsdörfer, curator
+41 44 634 90 21
wernsdoerfer@vmz.uzh.ch


Media Relations
University of Zurich
+41 44 634 44 67
mediarelations@kommunikation.uzh.ch

 

Legal notice

Copyright

All content, text, images, graphics, photographs or other files on our website are protected by copyright. They belong exclusively to the University of Zurich or to the expressly named copyright holders. The use of any elements - in particular commercial use - by third parties is prohibited unless the express written consent of the copyright holder has been obtained or obtained in advance from third parties. The mere downloading or copying of content, text, images, graphics, photographs or other files does not transfer any rights.

 

Permission of use for media representatives

The image files, graphics or photographs expressly designated as "press pictures" on our website may be used exclusively by media representatives (free of charge), provided that the media coverage is in connection with a past, current or future exhibition. The aforementioned use must necessarily include the following photo credit: © Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich, photographer: respective surname, first name. Any other use is prohibited.

Weiterführende Informationen

Press Pictures

Child's Headwear for Festive Days with Dragon

Child's Headwear for Festive Days with Dragon

Fabric cap in black cotton velvet with embroidery and appliqués in coloured silk. An attachment in the shape of a dragon adorns the crown of the cap. In the mythology of the Miao societies, dragons stand at the beginning of the creation of the world, they were born from the ‘butterfly mother’. They are associated with fertility, prosperity and protection.

EMZ inv. no. 22130.

Photograph: Kathrin Leuenberger 2021, Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich.

Appliqué in the technique of folded cloth piecework

Appliqué in the technique of folded cloth piecework

Detail of a decorative fabric piece sewn onto jackets, for example at the collar or at the front, along the opening. Thin cotton fabrics in red, white, black, blue and turquoise are folded into a fine geometric pattern of layered triangles.

EMZ inv. no. 22154.

Photograph: Kathrin Leuenberger 2021, Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich.

Two embroideries, presumably for use as sleeve trimmings

Two embroideries, presumably for use as sleeve trimmings

Two contemporary embroideries made of cotton, embroidered with coloured silk in the flat stitch technique. Both of them show scenes from the Miao women’s textile craft. The red-ground embroidery shows the production of silk and the dyeing and beating of fabric; the blue-ground embroidery depicts women sewing and embroidering.

EMZ inv. nos. 33306/33307.

Photograph: Kathrin Leuenberger 2021, Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich.

Woman’s Jacket

Woman’s Jacket

Indigo dyed cotton jacket. The back is decorated with silk felt appliqués, themselves embroidered with coloured silk. Such jackets characterise a Miao group living in Baibei village in the southeast of Guizhou province. The style is called the "hundred-bird style".

EMZ inv. no. 33523.

Photograph: Kathrin Leuenberger 2021, Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich.

Two Children’s Bib Aprons

Two Children’s Bib Aprons

Two children's aprons with attached collars. The sophistication of the filigree embroidered motifs is revealed when one thinks about how the aprons are worn. If one imagines the collar placed around the child's neck, the flat shapes become a silver necklace with fine hangings attached all around.

EMZ inv. nos. 33534/33535.

Photograph: Kathrin Leuenberger 2021, Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich.

Nappy or Bottom Covering

Nappy or Bottom Covering

Nappy made of indigo dyed cotton fabric in plain weave. Two layers of fabric are quilted with white cotton in running-stitch lines. Nappies or bottom coverings are placed over babies’ and toddlers' bottoms and either held in place by their trousers or tied tightly with a ribbon.

EMZ inv. no. 33687.

Photograph: Kathrin Leuenberger 2021, © Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich.

Children’s Collars

Children’s Collars

Three collars for toddlers made of different coloured cotton in plain weave. One characteristic of the Miao women’s embroidery work is that function and aesthetics are often and readily combined. This is evident in these children’s collars, where the decorative stitches simultaneously hold together the upper fabric, stiffening interlining and lower fabric.

EMZ inv. nos. 33540/33543/33546.

Photograph: Kathrin Leuenberger 2021, Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich.

Pleated Skirts

Pleated Skirts

Three pleated skirts made of indigo-dyed cotton in plain weave, decorated with embroidery and appliqués. The pleated skirt is the ‘red thread’ in the clothing of the Miao women. It appears in countless variations, but always remains recognisable in its basic form.

EMZ inv. nos. 33695/33707/33709.

Photograph: Kathrin Leuenberger 2021, Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich.