Material Choices: Bast and Leaf Fiber Textiles in Asia and the Pacific

In a world now awash in a global trade of industrially produced cottons and synthetic fabrics, it is easy to forget that all of the cloth needed in any community once had to be woven by hand, and that much of it was made from bast or leaf fibers. Today even the word bast, which refers to a layer of fibers found in the stems of plants, is unfamiliar to most people.

This exhibition, originally developed by the Fowler Museum at UCLA and modified by East-West Center Gallery staff, features a diverse selection of bast and leaf fiber fabrics from the Asia-Pacific region and illustrates how weavers have overcome the notorious challenges of processing and dying these materials to create textiles of subtle, natural beauty and sophisticated design.

“Material Choices” introduces gallery visitors to bast and leaf fibers such as hemp, ramie, abaca and other banana fibers, piña (or pineapple fiber), pandanus, New Zealand flax, and a variety of lesser-known fibers. More than 25 rare textiles are on view, representing the Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, New Zealand (Maori), Papua New Guinea, the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, and Hawai`i.

Among the highlights is an abaca suit from Mindanao, beautifully dyed with elaborate stitch-resist patterning. Perhaps the best example of its kind in the world, this suit is on loan from the Fowler Museum’s collection, as are most of the other items in the exhibition. Other exceptional pieces include an indigo-dyed double-ikat (kasuri) summer robe (katabira) from Japan’s ‘Snow Country’ and, from private collections here in Honolulu, Philippine piña garments, a banana fiber robe from Okinawa, and a large Hawaiian lauhala mat.

Ticket Information
The East-West Center Gallery is open to the public free of charge weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. It is closed Saturdays.

Event Sponsor
East-West Center, Manoa

More Information
East-West Center Gallery, 944-7177, ChangE@EastWestCenter.org, http://arts.eastwestcenter.org

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