“Textile hemp and horticulture – A universal transformation” is the theme for an exhibition set to run this summer in Sweden.
Featuring rare textiles from the collections of American ethnobotanist Robert C. Clarke and Swedish textile historian Git Skoglund, the exhibition is organized in collaboration with Bente Eriksen, Director of the Botanical Garden in Lund, Sweden, where the items will be on display July 1 – Sept 25, 2019. Skoglund produced the exhibition and analyzed the items to verify their fiber content.
“Hemp has been grown for home production since ancient times,” the organizers said in a release. “No other garden plant has been used for fabric production in so many parts of the world.”
Intended to highlight connections between textiles and horticulture, the exhibition aims to “broaden the story of our universal textile heritage.” Although the hemp plant is universal the awareness of hemp textiles is sparse. “More recently, hemp became an industrial product, and is no longer grown in home gardens, with the exception of certain traditional cultures,” the organizers noted.
Canada-based Hemp Bouquet, a seed-to-sales enterprise that supports small farmers and local textile artisans in Turkey, is a patron of the event and provided photographs for the exhibition catalog.
