Gup Shup
An exhibition of collaborative work made by a Pakistani embroidery collective and the UK label Polly & Me is on at the University of Bradford’s Gallery II until 23 April
Called Gup Shup (meaning chit chat in Urdu), the exhibition came about when Polly & Me’s Cath Braid launched a project working with women in Chitral. The idea behind it was two-fold: to set up a sustainable source of income for the local women (making upmarket bags for sale through Polly & Me) and to encourage their artistic expression as a means in itself. Working with development consultant Rolla Khadurri, she held a series of workshops in Chitral, encouraging local women to discuss their daily lives, which they then illustrated in collages made up of photographs of family members, photocopies, old packaging and anything they had to hand. These illustrations were transposed into eight large embroidered banners – the centrepiece of the current show. ‘It’s a really interesting project as Cath Braid has used her experience in contemporary textiles to work with the women and create these images of their lives’, explains the University of Bradford’s Caroline Hick.
Polly & Me bags are displayed alongside the banners, showing how elements from the larger pieces have been scaled down to create these saleable bags. There’re also panels describing the making and design processes on show, which together with the textiles themselves provide an unusual insight into domestic life in the Hindu Kush.
www.bradford.ac.uk/gallery
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