[CON]TEXTILE

LAURA DOLABELLA BARBILONDON COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATIONMA GRAPHIC DESIGNTUTOR: TONY CREDLANDLONDON, NOVEMBER 2010

[CON]TEXTILE

HOW CAN A PATTERN INFLUENCE AND BE INFLUENCED BY A CULTURE?

CULTURE?

INTRODUCTION 06

1| CHINTZ 08

1.1| THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE TEXTILE 10 INDUSTRY IN BRITAIN

1.2| CHINTZ DESIGN TO SUIT ENGLISH TASTE 15

2| CHITA 16

2.1| TEXTILE IN BRAZIL 17

2.2| FROM CHINTZ TO CHITA 21

2.3| CHITA AND CHITÃO 22

3| BRAZIL 24

3.1| VISUAL ARTS 30

4| [CON]TEXTILE 38

4.1| CONTEXT 39

4.2| TEXTILE 45

5| CONCLUSION 52

7| BIBLIOGRAPHY 56

6| CHRONOLOGY 54

For my family and friends, who share my passion for flowers.

INTRODUCTION

Colour is the first revelation of the world. (Oiticica in Ramírez, 2007)

A set of Kimonos is readily identifiable as being Japanese. A set of tartans is instantly associated with Scotland. African prints with their white patterns on a brown or navy background are unmistakably African. Yet a textile from Brazil called chita, which has as rich a history as any of these famous textiles, is not as easily associated with its country of origin. My desire to know why this is the case has motivated me to investigate the relationship between textile and its cultural context, thus the name of the project [CON]TEXTILE.

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Our everyday lives are surrounded by patterns. Regularities of size, colour and definition may be discerned in everything from clothes, wallpaper and bedspreads to notepads, objects and architecture. An obvious purpose of a repeating motif, colour or design is ornamentation or decoration. Historically however patterns are symbolic, having enormous religious and cultural significance. They are attributed with giving meaning and continuity to the message they contain, for example the power to save us from demons or promote good fortune (Cole, 2003).

The question is what distinguishes a merely ornamental pattern from one that carries meaning, in addition to form. According to Sharrad and Collet (2004), a traditional textile conveys information about both its creator and the person or people for whom it was created. Different aspects of the pattern are thought to convey this information: the materials used and the weight and texture of the cloth indicate the geoclimatic conditions in which it was made; the woven motifs and the use of colour convey the origins of the people, their cultural history and their beliefs. In some societies, Sharrad and Collet (2004) argue that, such a textile announces the demographic status of the user – whether they are single, married or widowed and to which ethnic group they belong.

The purpose of this project is to understand how a particular group of textile patterns influences a culture, and conversely how this group of patterns is influenced by a culture. I have chosen as my focus a commonly known Brazilian textile. Following Cole (2003) and Sharrad and Collet (2004), I argue that the textiles have intrinsic meaning. Schoeser (2003) delineates the range of the cultural mechanisms and manifestations indicated by patterns: technology, agriculture and trade, ritual, tribute, language, art and personal identity. To understand the textiles of a culture, it is necessary to study its cultural history. Taylor (2002, cited in Boydell and Schoeser, 2002:67), citing Le Wita, argues that an important key to cultural analyses is to pay attention to the “little details”. It is through the “little details” that we identify and interpret complex issues such as status of fabrics of clothing.

The ‘[con]textile’ project is divided into three parts: the present report, a visual summary and the final outcome.

In this report, I explore the history of chintz, chita and the concepts of Brazilian national identity and visual culture. This review of textiles from a historical and cultural perspective is necessary for establishing connections between the pattern and the culture from which it derives.

The second part is the visual summary where I assembled textile images from around the world, a selection of graphic design pieces and photographs from Brazil. This summary also presents the visual experiments I have conducted throughout my studies. They have been organized in the form of a blog and can be visited by accessing www.contextile.blogspot.com.

The final outcome consists of a two-in-one book. One side of the book displays a number of chita patterns while the other contains a group of selected images of visual art alongside photographs of Brazilian fauna, flora, landscape and traditional festivities.

This report opens with a historical and cultural review of the fabric, chintz.

1| CHINTZ

‘Inrecenttimes“chintz”hascometomeananycottonorlinenfloralprintedfurnishingfabric.Thisrathergeneraldefinitionovershadoweditstrueoriginsasacarefullyhand-paintedfabricfromIndia’(Crill, 2008)1

Since the beginning of the seventeenth century, chintz textiles have been used in Europe primarily as a furnishing fabric, when only linen, wool and silk were used to dress. In this chapter I will describe how this textile first arrived in Britain and how the transition from ‘wall covering to clothing’ (Crill, 2008:16)2 had an impact in English society. The writer Daniel Dafoe rather humorously described this transition in 1708:

Chintsandpaintedcalicoes,whichbeforewereonlymadeuseforcarpets,quilts,etc.,andtoclothechildrenofordinarypeople,becamenowthedressofourladies,andsuchpowerofamode,wesawourpersonsofqualitydress’dinIndiancarpets,whichafewyearsbeforetheirchamber-maidswouldhavethoughttooordinaryforthem;thechintswereadvancedfromlyingonthefloorstotheirbacks,fromthefoot-clothtothepetticoat…(Dafoe, 1708, in Crill, 2008:16)

It is clear from this passage that this transition from furnishing to dressing fabric was not immediate and, as I will explain later in this chapter, the first designs brought from India had to be altered to suit the local market.

First let me explain the terminology used to describe this controversial textile. According to Crill (2008:9)3, the word ‘chintz’ derives from the north Indian word chint, meaning to sprinkle or spray. She goes on to explain that ‘the Portuguese, who were the first Europeans to encounter these textiles, called them pintado, meaning not “painted” but “spotted”, and the term continued to be used for both printed and painted cottons by English East India Company officials in the early seventeenth century.’ (2008:9)

1. Crill, R. (2008) Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West.

2. (Ibid)3. (Ibid)

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1.1| THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN BRITAIN

Chintz was not the only material to be brought over from the East to Europe. A century or so before the Christian era, silk and satin, due to their easy transportation, ‘became a primary medium of exchange’ alongside spices, jewellery and other commodities brought from China, Japan and Central Asia to the Middle East and Mediterranean, including Egypt, Syria as well as Northern parts of Africa and Europe. This “Silk Road” as it was called was in reality a ‘number of trading routes through the deserts and mountains of Asia’ (Harris, 2004:10)4.

From about 1500, a new sea route around the coast of Africa began to be used for trade. Initially it was used by the Spanish and Portuguese. Later, the Dutch (1597), English (1600) and French (1664) East India Companies were set up (Harris, 2004)5’. These companies made it easier and faster for goods to be distributed around the world. Harris (2004:224) notes that this was the first time that ‘the technically far superior painted and dyed Indian cloths (figure 1) found their way to Europe, where their bright, fast colours were greatly admired.’

By 1664, nearly 75 per cent of all imported trade goofs in Britain was from India was textile. ‘Light in weight, washable and with bright exotic patterns,’ Harris (2004:224) notes, ‘they were instantly in demand for furnishings as well as clothing, particularly informal wear such as dressing- and morning-gowns’. It is clear that European consumers were enthusiastic about chintz.

In around 1670, printed textiles started being produced in England, France and Holland (Harris, 2004). The European copies were made by printing with woodblocks rather than painting by hand. Long-established silk and wool manufactures keenly felt the growing competition from the printed cotton, and they put pressure on government to stifle the fledgling industry (Harris, 2004)6. In 1701 the import of Indian goods and the production for the UK home market was banished in Britain, which meant that what was being printed for British export was still allowed. The ban lasted for over 70 years in Britain (Harris, 2004).

The rapidly expanding American colonies were an enormous commercial market for printed cotton. In addition, the marriage in 1662 of Charles II of England to the Portuguese infanta, Catherine of Bragança, had profound consequences for the British textile manufacture (Schoeser, 2003)7. Her immense dowry included the ceding of Portuguese trading rights in East India, Bombay, Tangiers and Brazil. Soon, English cotton cloths were made with yarns from Brazil and the Caribbean Islands (Schoeser, 2003).

The British textile industry continued to grow with new technology (Schoeser, 2003). By 1828, the rotary printing machines could print three colours simultaneously. This, alongside the development of new dyes and patterns, consolidated British domination of printed cotton in the global market until the beginning of the twentieth century.

FIGURE1:INDIANCHINTZ,PRINTEDANDDYEDCOTTON,EARLY 18TH CENTURY.

FIGURE 2: PAINTED AND DYED COTTON FOR THE EUROPEAN MARKET,1710-25).

FIGURE4:WILLIAMMORRIS,LODDENTEXTILE,BLOCKPRINTEDCOTTON,UK1884.

FIGURE4:WILLIAMMORRIS,DESIGNFOR‘TULIPANDWILLOW’,INDIGODISCHARGEWOODBLOCKPRINTEDFABRIC,1873.

1.2| CHINTZ DESIGN TO SUIT ENGLISH TASTE

Chintz was first imported to England in the 1640s. Taylor8 says that the cotton fabrics were, at that time, seen as having a rather weak start as the Indian designs were seen as ‘bizarre’. It was only from 1670s onwards that the prints began to be tailored to English taste (figure 2), with sample pieces being sent out to India for the local craftsman to copy (Crill, 2008)9. An exotic hybrid style was created that combined British, Indian and Chinese patterns (figure 3). This style fitted perfectly into the craze for Chinoisserie that swept Britain in the eighteenth century (Crill, 2008)10.

These early European designs were mainly florals and, according to Harris (2004)11,‘by the mid-eighteenth century they tended to imitate the designs of contemporary, fashionable silk brocades, with more naturalistic drawn flowers in a white ground being most popular.

The bright, exotic patterns printed on a lightweight, washable and colourfast fabric became fashionable. The English printed industry grew and also grew demand for new patterns (Harris, 2004). After 1800, fashions in printed cotton changed routinely: from season to season for dress patterns, and every two or three years for furnishing fabrics (Harris, 2004).

The mechanization of the printing process allowed a large quantity of fabric to be printed with the same pattern. By the 1860s, manufactures depended on the sale of vast quantities of cheap printed cottons made especially for export to keep the industry afloat, while the high-class print-works merely copied the latest fashions sent over from France (Harris, 2004). English textile designer, artist and writer William Morris helped to reform standards in design. His early patterns were inspired by his knowledge of and interest in horticulture and botany (figure 4), while his later patterns combined naturalism with a formality of organization (Harris, 2004). As Graves12 argues, ‘the strength of Morris’ fabrics lay in their intimacy and freshness of observation.’

William Morris is thought to be one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts movement. His company, Morris & Co, designed patterns for printed textiles, wallpaper, tapestry, furniture, stained glass, metal and glass wares, embroidery and jewellery. The company was often commissioned to decorate and design whole houses. Arguably, his designs and ideas about crafts still influence contemporary pattern design today.

This chapter has traced the evolution of chintz textiles and the multi-cultural, political and technological influences upon its patterns. The following chapter discusses the Brazilian version of the Indian and English chintz.

4. Harris, J. (2004) 5000 Years of Textiles.

5. (Ibid) 6. (Ibid) 7. Schoeser, M. (2003) World

Textiles: A Concise History.8. Taylor, L. wrote a chapter

entitled The Hierarchy of Fashion Fabrics in Schoeser, M, and Boydell, C. (2002) Disentangling Textiles: Techniques for the Study of Designed Objects [edited by] Mary Schoeser, Christine Boydell.

9. Crill, R. (2008) Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West.

10. (Ibid)11. Harris, J. (2004) 5000

Years of Textiles.12. Graves, J. wrote an article

entitled Symbol Pattern and the Unconscious - The Search for Meaning in Schoeser, M, and Boydell, C. (2002) Disentangling Textiles: Techniques for the Study of Designed Objects [edited by] Mary Schoeser, Christine Boydell.

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2| CHITA

‘Chita’ is the Brazilian version of the Indian and English Chintz. In the Aurélio13 dictionary chita is classified as ‘ordinary cotton textile with coloured pattern’, but this definition falls far short of capturing the true essence of chita:

ThehistoryofthistextilecarriesyoutowardstheBraziliansoul.Past,present,work,punishment,party,creativity,art,childhood,cheekinessandanenormoushappinessarecombinedinthecoloursanduncontrolledmixturesofpatterns,thatarewornbyslaves,peasants,Tropicalists,literaturecharacters,theatre,soapoperaandcinema;withoutlosingitsinnocence. (Mellão and Imbroisi, 2005:22)14

Not all cotton fabric in Brazil is chita and today not every chita is made with 100% cotton. There are three kinds of chita: chitinha depicting minute flowers (figure 5) as in a ditsy print; chita depicting medium-sized flowers; and chitão when large colourful flowers are used as patterns. Nowadays these different nomenclatures are rarely used as we commonly take chitão for chita. Nearly all the chita patterns I have selected as the base of my research would originally be called chitão.

In this chapter I will retrace the emergence of the textile industry in Brazil and the processes by which chintz became chita.

2.1 TEXTILE IN BRAZIL

Brazil was discovered in 1500 by the Portuguese noble, military commander, navigator and explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, but colonization only began in 1534. Before the colonial period, indigenous tribes were already producing textiles using cotton and other fibres. The autochthonous weavers were highly skilled, as is evident in their elegant redes (hammocks), baskets and ropes (Delson, 2004)15. The final twist direction of cordage was significant. Differences in this twist could distinguish the work of individuals from the same tribe, and such differences served to delineate the identity of internal groups within the larger community.

As the first Portuguese settlers moved to Brazil, they started producing cloth in their fazendas16 (farms). Almost every region of the country was using slaves as spinners and weavers. The output was

13. Aurélio is the name of a popular dictionary in Brazil.

14. Imboisi R. and Mellão R. (2005) Que Chita Bacana (What a Nice Chita).

15. Delson, R. M. (2004) The Origin of Brazil’s Textile Industry, an Overview. Article for the National Overview Brazil, Textile Conference IISH, 11-13 November 2004.

FIGURE 6: CHINTZ TRADE ROUTES

CHINTZ ROUTE FOR THE EUROPEAN MARKET

CHINTZ ROUTE FOR THE PORTUGUESE AND BRAZILIANMARKET

FIGURE5:CHITINHA

intended for internal consumption rather than for trade, or for collateral usage as shipping material’ (Delson, 2004)17. Up until the end of the seventeenth century, the richer part of the population favoured the imported and more industrialised products, while a large number of African and Creole-born slaves as well as the poor free population used cheap, crafted material to dress (Delson, 2004).

At this time, Portugal was only an importer and trader of textiles. Brazilian production was reorganised to become a supplier for Portugal, which helped the textile industry in Portugal to become more self-sufficient.

Brazilian industry was organized roughly by region. In the colder south, wool and felted fabrics were produced. In central Minas Gerais, fine fabrics were woven to meet the demands of the wealthy gold and diamond miners, while in the very warm North and Far East, simple cottons were produced to clothe indigenous population and provide uniforms for soldiers’ (Delson, 2004).

In 1785 the queen Dona Maria I signed a treaty that prohibited the manufacturing of goods in Brazil and demanded that all looms should be sent to Portugal (Delson, 2004). As a result, Brazil was obliged to import chintz from India and especially from England (figure 6). Chintz was used in the internal market and as a slave exchange-currency, changing cotton production methods forever.

16. Fazenda in the Portuguese language also means fabric. According to Afrânio Garcia this is because with the ‘Industrial Revolution the first product of merchandise which was produced in mass scale was textile’ hence the word fabric in English with the same meaning. Source: http://www.filologia.org.br/soletras/2/11.htm (24/10/2010)

17. Delson, R. M. (2004) The Origin of Brazil’s Textile Industry, an Overview. Article for the National Overview Brazil, Textile Conference IISH, 11-13 November 2004.

FIGURE7:CARVEDWOODBLOCK.

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FIGURE 8: CAVALEIRO MASCARADO, TRADITIONAL CHARACTERINDIVINO’SPARTY,1989.

2.2 FROM CHINTZ TO CHITA

The import of English goods in Brazil changed the way Brazilians perceived fashion, as the following quote testifies.

In1812,Brazilconsumed25%moreBritishproductsthanthewholeofAsia.Thisishowwelearnedtodressintheaustereandheavyclothesthathadnothingtodowithourclimate.Thiswastheoutfitwornbyelegantpeople.Calicoorprintedchintz–chita–wassimplepeople’sdress (Mellão and Imbroisi, 2005:79)18

According to Freyre (2009)19, both national taste and the colour palette of the clothes changed as a result of these new political-economic arrangements. The opening of Brazilian ports to other European goods, which were not Portuguese, revolutionised the culture (Freyre, 2009). One of these European impacts was the adoption of blacks, browns, greys in men and women’s clothes, a most inappropriate development, given the tropical climate of most of the country (Freyre, 2009).

Not every Brazilian could afford or even favoured imported products and even though it was prohibited, there were many small factories still producing fabric for internal consumption (Imbroisi and Mellão, 2005). Chita was being printed with woodblocks (figure 7) and to wear clothes made with Brazilian fabrics became, in the state of Minas Gerais, ‘an act of protest and rebellion against the metropolis’s arbitrariness’ (Imbroisi and Mellão, 2005:74).

By 1850 there were 72 registered industries in Brazil, many of which were producing textile. Italian immigrants arrived to work in the coffee plantations in Brazil. In 1888 slavery was abolished. Salaries were regulated which meant that an internal market was finally created. This did not mean that everyone wanted to wear what was being produced locally. While Brazilian workers wore chita, immigrants liked to wear clothes from their home country, even they were inappropriate for the new climate. They also did not want to be identified with the poorer classes, former slaves, peasants and errants, who wore such clothes (Imbroisi and Mellão, 2005).

With the advent of electricity and the industrial revolution up until 1930, the textile industry hired 23% of the Brazilian working class. Output went from around 21 million metres in 1885 to over 500 million metres in 1929, due to the limitation on imports. As a result of government subsidy, this output had almost doubled again by 1938, with nearly 964 million metres being produced. Chita was indeed being produced on an enormous scale.

The English origin of the chita patterns is obvious, particularly in the early 1900s, with the ditsy prints associated with the English Liberty fabrics (Imbroisi and Mellão, 2005). In 1945 Brazil had supplied over a billion metres of textile to national and international markets. Still, chita continued to be worn by handymen and peasants and in the “urban suburbs”, the peripheral parts of Brazilian towns were the poorer people usually lived (Imbroisi and Mellão, 2005). Chita was also characteristic of traditional folkloric parties (figure 8) and was used for children’s everyday play clothes (Imbroisi and Mellão, 2005). Whereas chintz in England ascended from a decorative fabric to a noble fabric adorning the upper classes, it is clear that chita was still perceived as an inferior type of fabric.

In was only during the 1950s that a manufacturer, Fiação e Tecelagem São José, decided to meet its clients demands and began making a wider selection of chita for decorative purposes. Up until then, the wider pieces produced were 90 centimetres; now they were being sold at 1.20 metres. These were so popular that by the 1960s they were producing the textile as much as 1.90 metres wide. It was at this point that chita became chitão (big chita).

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2.3 CHITA AND CHITÃO

Imbriosi and Mellão (2005:22) say that what characterized chitão was the dimension and colour of its patterns:

Ifyouweretomakethesamepatternonanotherbasewhichisn’tacottonfabric(suchasacottonblendfabric,asisproducednowadays),itwouldnotbeconsideredchitabut‘chitapattern’.

The chita’s primary and secondary colours are in flat masses that completely cover the thread (disguising any inevitable imperfection). Other distinguishing qualities of chita, according to Imbriosi and Mellão (2005), include its bright tones and the graphite delineating the designs which predominates in one shade.

Luiza Chiodi (cited in Imbriosi and Mellão, 2005:135) is, a pattern designer who works for Brazilian Textile company Fabril Mascarenhas. She vividly describes the chita drawings as ‘innocently outlined, with gigantic flowers and leaves inspired – not copied – from nature’. The most commonly used flowers, she says, are orchids, roses, daisies and lilies (figure 9).

Chita has come a long way from the original Indian Chintz to Chitão. This discussion of historical and cultural factors has shown that the processes by which a product becomes infused with meaning are complex. Here Schoeser (2003:194)20 appositely describes the tension between the limitless possibility for patterns and individuals’ idiosyncratic choice of patterns:

...textilesaredeterminedbyaparticularselectionfromthenever-endingpossibilitiesofferedbyfibres,colours,constructionsandpatterns;ontheotherhand,theirreceptionistemperedbyeveryperson’sintimate–andoftenunconscious–knowledgeoftheirtextures,sounds,smellsandappearance.Thecontradictionsoccurwhenthisintuitiveunderstanding(whichgenerallyoverlooksthecomplexityoftextiles)isconfrontedbyaformorimagethatpromptsareconsiderationoftheseassumptions.

Schoeser (2003) goes on to suggest that the bright, intricately figured textiles worn by the rich, which provoked amazement and projected prestige, made others reconsider their taste in textiles. Chita successfully broke away from its origins to form a new series of motifs that conveys some of the main characteristics of the Brazilian culture

Having explored the history of chintz and chita, I will now explore the concepts of Brazilian national identity and visual culture.

18. Imboisi R. and Mellão R. (2005) Que Chita Bacana (What a Nice Chita).

19. Freyre, G. (2009) Modos de Homem e Modas de Mulheres (Men’s Modes and Women’s Fashion).

20. Schoeser, M. (2003) World Textiles: A Concise History.

FIGURE 9: CHITA ROSE PATTERN DESIGN

3| BRAZIL

Sadlier (2008) identifies two key factors defining Brazilian identity: race and nature. From the moment European colonizers encountered indigenous peoples, race became salient. It underpins the present-day recognition that the nation is made up of a multiracial population, much of it black. The second theme is nature, meaning in this case the flora and fauna of the place and its value as a “natural resource” (Sadlier, 2008: 04)21.

Brazil’s first inhabitants were the indigenous people (figure 10) that crossed the Bering land bridge, in Siberia, into Alaska and then entered North, Central and South America over 10,000 year ago22. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries the country was a colony of Portugal. Most of the people who moved to Brazil were either Portuguese or slaves from sub-Saharan Africa. After independence was declared on 7 September 1822, immigration began23. The international slave trade ended the economy expanded. In 1824 many Germans emigrated to the south of Brazil, and in 1875 the Italians followed. Around the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth, they were joined by Portuguese, Spanish, Polish and Japanese immigrants, who arrived to work as cheap labour in the coffee plantations of São Paulo or to establish themselves in the rural areas. Urban centres began to grow, attracting Lebanese and Syrian immigrants, among others24. IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) estimates that between 1884 and 1959, the total number of immigrants in Brazil was well over 4 million (figure 11).

FIGURE10:BRAZILIANINDIGENOUS PEOPLE.

According to Guldemond and Van Woensel (2009, in Figueredo et al., 2009:221)25, 10 per cent of the genetic make-up of 85 per cent of Brazilians is African, and this mixed ancestry is a source of pride: ‘in contrast with most other countries, the appellation of “half blood” has a positive connotation there.’ A recent survey in Brazil asking people to describe their skin colour resulted in more than 134 different self-classifications. Guldemond and Van Woensel (2009) portray the Brazilians as revelling in their miscegenation:

Alva-rosada,branca-sardenta,café-com-leite,morena canelado,quase negra and tostadaisanenumerationthatsoundslikeamenuyetitrepresentsonlyafractionofthepaletteofcomplexionstobefoundinBrazil.(…)ThestudyindicatesthatBrazilianshaveanawarenessoftheirspecificskincolour(...)countlessnuances,evenwithinasinglefamily,aredescribedandnamed.(...)TheseresearchresultsindicatethatinBrazilanawarenessof,inquisitivenessabout,grapplingwithandalsoaprideinthismulticolouredsocietyprevails.ThequestioniswhetherthisawarenessinitselfsayssomethingabouttheBrazilianidentityandhowthisthenmanifestsitselfinaspecificcharacterizationofBraziliansociety.ItwouldbebettertosaythatthereisaprevailingawarenessofthemultiformityandcomplexityofthatBrazilianidentity26.

Even though Brazilian society was constituted through three elemental races, white, black and indigenous (figure 12), Ortiz (2006:19)27 holds that in the construction of Brazilian civilization, it is the whites who have been attributed with the most social status. This has a direct impact on Brazilian national identity as well as on the formation of the country’s culture.

brazil

spain

guinea

ghana

beninniger

japan

syria and lebanon

mozambique

angola

tanzania

portugalitaly

germany and holland

FIGURE11:BRAZILIANIMMIGRATION MAP.

AFRICANIMMIGRATION(SLAVEROUTES:1550-1888)

EUROPEANIMMIGRATION(ITALIANS:1880-1930)GERMANS(1824-1969)

ARABICANDJAPANESEIMMIGRATION(SYRIANANDLEBANESE:1880-1920,

JAPANESE:1895-1920)

As a colony, the only cultural activities promoted were exploratory ones, in particular, investigating plant and animal varieties as well as scientific expeditions (Vannucchi, 2006)28. After the country became independent from Portugal and the slaves were freed, Brazilians did not abandon the cultural European standards that had been established. The culture of imitation and alienation was still valued over what was native. As the migration flow began, this was also true for each group that arrived as each cherished their own cultural traditions. According to Vannucchi (2006:78), a three-part structure is identifiable in Brazilian society: mercantile monopoly, deriving from its colonial past (figure 13); learning and intellectuality, legacies of the Christian missionaries; and manual labour, practiced almost solely by the indigenous people descended from the African slave. Within this structure, the international culture has been valorised, such that locally made good is still sometimes underappreciated and everything that is imported, considered superior.

Ribeiro (2006)29 sums up the picture when he states that Brazilian culture is a fluid and complex entity which is forever in search of authenticity. Sadler (2008: 01) concludes that national identity is ‘anything that contributes to the individual subject’s sense of

21. Sadlier D. J. (2008) Brazil Imagined.

22. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Brazil (20/10/2010)

23. http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imigração_no_Brasil (20/10/2010)

24. (Ibid)25. Guldemond, J. and

Woensel B. V. wrote an chapter entitled In Search of some Brazilianness in Figueredo, L., Gierstberg, F., Guldemond, J., Holtwijk, I., Meurs, P. and Woensel, B. (2009) Brazil Contemporary: Architecture, Visual Culture, Art.

26. (Ibid)

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FIGURE 12: A MESTIZO IN THEBACKLANDSOFBRAZIL.

FIGURE13:RECIFE’SCOLONIALBUILDINGSANDSTREETS DECORATED FOR ‘FESTA JUNINA’.

belonging to a nation’. Arguably a true sense of national identity was born in Brazil once the multiple cultures – African, Portuguese, native Indians, European, to name but a few – started to combine and influence one another. The Brazilian identity is a multicultural entity that is in constant mutation. Alternatively, Brazilian identity is defined by its inability to be defined, as Bouman and Visschedijk (2009, in Figueredo et al., 2009:08), suggest when they state that it ‘hardly allows itself to be categorized, labelled or classified’. Taking this idea further, they contend that Brazil, generally speaking, has a unique approach towards the human capacity to draw distinctions.

Whetheritisabouteverydaylifeinthecity,artisticpracticeortheluxuriantvisualculture,distinctionseemstoexist,nottoisolatethingsinordertoconferuponthemanidentityoftheirown,butpreciselytodiscoverthepotentialforcombiningthem.Thatgoesonallthetime.

Bouman, Ex and Visschedijk (2009) conclude that, in Brazil, identity is always temporary and preferably exchanged as soon as possible for a mutated identity, after which the process is repeated and repeated. Their affirmation of Brazilian identity, with its emphasis on profusion and richness, echoes some of the descriptions given in chapter 3 about patterns in chintzes and chita:

Thesenseofprofusionofflavours,images,scents,forms,coloursandmelodiesarisesfromourinabilitytokeepupwiththematthesamerateofchange. (Bouman, Ex and Visschedijk, 2009:08)30

27. Ortiz, R. (2006) Cultura Brasileira e Identidade Nacional (Brazilian Culture and National Identity).

28. Vannucchi, A. (2006) Cultura Brasileira: O que é, Como se Faz (Brazilian Culture: What it is and How it is Made.

29. Ribeiro D. in Vannucchi, A. (2006) Cultura Brasileira: O que é, Como se Faz (Brazilian Culture: What it is and How it is Made.

30. Guldemond, J. and Woensel B. V. wrote an chapter entitled In Search of some Brazilianness in Figueredo, L., Gierstberg, F., Guldemond, J., Holtwijk, I., Meurs, P. and Woensel, B. (2009) Brazil Contemporary: Architecture, Visual Culture, Art.

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3.1 VISUAL ARTS

Tupi31ornottupi,thatisthequestion.(OswalddeAndrade)

The first truly Brazilian visual arts manifestation was the 1922 ‘Week of Modern Art’ with its goal set by Mario de Andrade, one of the organizers, thus: ‘the permanent right to aesthetic experimentation; actualization of the Brazilian artistic intelligence; establishment of a creative consciousness’ (Sadlier, 2008:188).

Authors, poets, musicians, architects and artists in Brazil were being inspired by European developments at the time. Up until the 1920s, almost everything created in Brazil was based on a similar project from abroad. While they were undoubtedly borrowing from the Art Nouveau (figure 14), Constructivism, Neoplasticism and Modernist movements, they were not pure imitators. Equally they were drawing inspiration from their own national culture (Guldemond and Woensel, 2009). In 1922 Brazil was celebrating the centenary of its independence from Portugal. This made it a perfect time to reflect on the idea of national identity, determined to be both contemporary and Brazilian. It was in short ‘the dawn of self-awareness, the start of

31. The Tupi people were one of the main ethnic groups of Brazilian indigenous people as stated by Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupi_people (02/11/10)

32. Guldemond, J. and Woensel B. V. wrote an chapter called In Search of some Brazilianness in Figueredo, L., Gierstberg, F., Guldemond, J., Holtwijk, I., Meurs, P. and Woensel, B. (2009) Brazil Contemporary: Architecture, Visual Culture, Art.

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FIGURE 14: AMERICAN VOGUECOVER(1926)ANDBRAZILIANMAGAZINEPARA TODOS COVER(1927).

a quest for what is intrinsic to Brazilian culture’ (Guldemond and Woensel, 2009:223). This combination helped to shape Brazilian national identity.

When the poet Oswald de Andrade wrote the Anthropophagic Manifesto in 1928, he suggested that the Brazilian artistic community should ‘”ingest” European influences insofar as they could be “regurgitated” in the form of something new and Brazilian for export’ (Sadlier, 2008:190).

Andrade’s idea of anthropophagy, where cannibalism is a metaphor for ‘the desire to assimilate and metabolise foreign influences’ (Sadlier, 2008:190), was a catalyst for another cultural movement in Brazil, Tropicália. This movement was so important to the shaping of Brazilian cultural language that it is often called a cultural revolution .

Named after an installation (figure 16) created by the artist Hélio Oiticica in 1967, the Tropicália Movement constituted key ethical changes in music, visual arts, theatre, cinema and fashion. Tropicalist group included: the musicians Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé and Gal Costa; artists Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, Rogério Duprat, and Antonio Dias; designer Rogério Duarte; as well as cinema directors who had begun the Cinema Novo Movement in the 1950s like Glauber Rocha (figure 17), Carlos Diegues, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade (figure 18) and Walter Lima Jr..

It was a fusion of international and national, old and new, rock with local beats of samba and baião, pop and kitsch that incorporated elements of local traditions and folklore creating a visual pastiche. Associating the movement with post-modernism, Cardoso in Homen de Melo points out ‘post-modernism is pluralism, or, the opening to new postures and acceptance of divergent opinions. In the post-modern era, the need of finding a single way of making things, a unique solution for all problems, an only narrative that closes all gaps no longer exists’(Cardoso in Homen de Melo, 2006:190).

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FIGURE15:CAETANO VELOSO RECORDCOVER,1968.

FIGURE16:HÉLIOOITICICA’STROPICÁLIA INSTALLATION IN THE WHITECHAPELARTGALLERY,LONDON 1969.

FIGURE17:GLAUBERROCHA’SDEUS E O DIABO NA TERRA DO SOL FILMPOSTER,1964.

Tropicália put Brazil on the global map as an up-and-coming culture (Guldemond and Woensel, 2009:232)32. It was also a celebration of the complexity of its national identity, changing the way Brazilians thought of themselves, and raising the question of whether this search for its ‘true origins’ was really necessary and embracing the idea that an open, developing culture, which is built through experimentation in search of its flair, is much more interesting that an static one.

During these revolutionary years, what was created in the visual arts field in Brazil was, in my opinion, not only innovative but also transformative. It placed the spectator at the centre of the work whilst trying new colour combinations, new materials, new sounds, new ideas which dialogued with its traditions, its natural landscape and its complicated social and political. This inventiveness is still present in Brazilian arts today as artists are constantly looking back at it as a source of inspiration.

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FIGURE18:JOAQUIMPEDRODEANDRADE’SMACUNAÍMA FILMPOSTER,1969.

Only anthropophagy unites us. Socially. Economically. Philosophically.

The world’s one and only law. Masked expression of all individualisms, of all collectivisms. Of all religions. Of all peace treaties.

Tupi, or not Tupi that is the question.

Against all catechizations. And against the mother of the Gracchi. I am only interested in what is not mine. Law of man. Law of the anthropophagus.

We are tired of all the distrustful Catholic husbands put in drama. Freud finished off the woman-enigma and other dreads of printed psychology.

The one thing that trampled over truth was clothing, the impermeable layer between the inner world and the outer world. Reaction against the clad man. American movies will tell.

Children of the sun, mother of the living. Fiercely met and loved, with all the hypocrisy of longing, by immigrants, slaves and tourists. In the country of the cobra grande.[1]

That is because we never had grammars or collections of old plants. And we never knew what was urban, suburban, frontier and continental. Loafers on the world map of Brazil.

A participating consciousness, a religious rhythmics.

Against all importers of canned consciousness. The palpable existence of life. And the study of prelogical mentality left to Mr. Levy-Bruhl.

We want the Carahiba revolution. Bigger than the French Revolution. The unification of all effective uprisings toward man. Without us, Europe would not even have its wretched declaration of the rights of man. The golden age proclaimed by America. The golden age. And all the girls.[2]

Filiation. The contact with Carahiban Brazil. Oú Villegaignon print terre. Montaigne. The natural man. Rousseau. From the French Revolution to Romanticism, to the Bolshevist Revolution, to the Surrealist Revolution and Keyserling’s technicized barbarian. We walk on.

We were never catechized. We live through a somnambular law. We had Christ born in Bahia. Or in Belém do Pará.But we never admitted the birth of logic among us.

Against Father Vieira. Who made our first loan, for a fee. The illiterate king had told him: put this on paper, but be not

too crafty. So the loan was made. Brazilian sugar was taxed. Vieira left the money in Portugal and brought us craftiness.

The spirit refuses to conceive spirit without body. Anthropomorphism. The necessity of an anthropophagic vaccine. For balance against meridian religions. And external inquisitions.

We can only attend to the auracular[3] world. We had justice as codification of vengeance. Science as codification of Magic. Anthropophagy. The permanent transformation of Taboo into totem.

Against the reversible world and objectified ideas. Deadened ideas. The stop[4] of dynamic thinking. The individual victimized by the system. Source of classical injustices. Of romantic injustices. And the oblivion of inner conquests.

Routes. Routes. Routes. Routes. Routes. Routes. Routes.

The Carahiban instinct.

Death and life of hypotheses. From the self-equation part of the Kosmos to the Kosmos-axiom part of the self. Subsistence. Knowledge. Anthropophagy.

Against plantlike elites. In communication with soil.

We were never catechized. We had Carnival instead. The Indian dressed up as senator of the Empire. Pretending to be Pitt. Or featuring in Alencar’s operas full of good Portuguese feelings. We already had communism. We already had the surrealist language. The golden age.

Catiti Catiti, Imara Notiá, Notiá Imara, Ipejú.[5]

Magic and life. We had the roster and the distribution of physical goods, of moral goods, of dignity goods. And we knew how to get past mystery and death with the aid of a few grammatical forms.

I asked a man what Law was. He answered it was the assurance of the exercise of possibility. That man was called Galli Matias. I ate him.

There is no determinism where there is mystery. But what do we have to do with that?

Against the stories of man, beginning at Cape Finisterre. The undated world. The unmarked world. No Napoleon. No Caesar.

The fixation of progress by means of catalogues and television sets. Only machinery. And blood transfusers.

Anthropophagic Manifesto

Against antagonistic sublimations. Brought over in caravels.

Against the truth of the missionary nations, defined by the wisdom of an anthropophagous, the Viscount of Cairu: – It is a lie repeated over and over.

But there came no crusaders. There came fugitives from a civilization we are eating up, because we are as strong and as vengeful as the Tortoise.

If God is the consciousness of the Uncreated Universe, Guaraci is the mother of the living. Jaci is the mother of plants. We had no speculation. But we had divination. We had Politics as the science of distribution. And a planetary social system.

Migrations. The escape from boring states. Against urban scleroses. Against Conservatories, and speculative boredom.

From William James to Voronoff. The transfiguration of Taboo into totem. Anthropophagy.

The paterfamilias and the creation of the Stork Fable: Actual ignorance of things + lack of imagination + authoritative attitude before the curious progeny.[6]

One has to start from a profound atheism in order to reach the notion of God. But the Carahiba did not. Because they had Guaraci.

The created objective reacts like the Fallen Angels. Then Moses strays. What do we have to do with that?

Before the Portuguese discovered Brazil, Brazil had discovered happiness.

Against the torch-bearing Indian. The Indian son to Mary, godson to Catherine de Médicis and son-in-law to Don Antônio de Mariz.

Joy is the real proof. In the matriarchy of Pindorama.

Against Memory as source of habit. The personal experience made anew.

We are concretists. Ideas take hold, react, burn people in public squares. Let us suppress ideas and other paralyses. For routes. To believe in signs, to believe in instruments and stars.

Against Goethe, the mother of the Gracchi, and the Court of Don John VI.

Joy is the real proof.

The struggle between what one might call Uncreated and the Creature – illustrated by the permanent contradiction of man and his Taboo. Daily love and capitalist modus vivendi. Anthropophagy. Absorption of the sacred enemy. To turn him into totem. The human adventure. The earthly finality. However, only the pure elites managed to realize carnal anthropophagy, which carries inside the highest meaning of life and averts all the ills identified by Freud, the ills of catechism. What happens is not a sublimation of sexual instinct. It is the thermometric scale of anthropophagic instinct. Once carnal, it turns elective and creates friendship. If affective, love. If speculative, science. It deviates, it transfers itself. We reach vilification. The base anthropophagy merged into the sins of catechism – envy, usury, calumny, murder. Plague of the so-called cultured and Christianized nations, that is what we are acting against. Anthropophagi.

Against Anchieta singing the eleven thousand virgins of heaven, in the land of Iracema – the patriarch João Ramalho founder of São Paulo.

Our independence has yet to be proclaimed. A typical phrase of Don John VI: – Son, put the crown on thy head before some adventurer doeth it! We expelled dynasty. We need to expel the Braganza spirit, the rule and the snuff of Maria da Fonte.

Against the oppressive, clothed social reality recorded by Freud – reality without complexes, without madness, without prostitution, and without the penitentiaries of the matriarchy of Pindorama.

OSWALD DE ANDRADE.

In Piratininga.Year 374 of the Swallowing of Bishop Sardinha.[7]In: Revista de Antropofagia [Journal of Anthropophagy], São Paulo, 1 (1), May 1928.Translated into English by Maria do Carmo Zanini in 2006

Notes:[1] Cobra grande [big snake], or boiúna, is a fantastic creature from Brazilian folklore.[2] Original in English, girls.[3] Aural + oracular.[4] Original in English, stop.[5] ‘New Moon, oh New Moon, breathe into Everyman memories of me.’ From Couto de Magalhães’s O Selvagem [The Savage].[6] The original text reads “pro-curiosa”, most likely a misprint of prole curiosa [curious progeny].[7] Bishop Pero Sardinha was cannibalized by Caeté Indians on the northeastern coast of Brazil in 1556. http://sibila.com.br/sIbyl36manifantropo.html

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4| [CON]TEXTILE

Having grown up in Brazil, chita has long been part of my visual memory, as something evocative of tradition and Brazil. Little did I know that this connection was not as obvious to others. Upon showing a set of chitas to a multicultural group at college, I was surprised that they were unable to distinguish them as being from Brazil. My quest to find out why they failed to make the connection between ‘chita’ and ‘Brazil’ led me to investigate the relationship between textile and its cultural context. In this final chapter, I explore common perceptions of Brazil and describe the purpose and outcome of seven visual experiments, in order to answer the question ‘How can a textile influence and be influenced by a culture?’

4.1 CONTEXT

To be able to make associations between a country and its traditional textile, one has to be aware of the country’s culture and images. These perceptions of a country need to go beyond clichés. For a country like Brazil which has such a recent cultural history and is in some ways still in search for its identity, it is even harder to be separated from these pre-conceived concepts. Bouman, Ex and Visschedijk (2009:07)33 give a deft summary of these clichés:

ForthevastmajorityofpeopleonEarth,Brazilstandsforcarnival,sambaandfootball.Putitmoreabstractly,Brazilisfestivity.Itisaneternal,globalclichéthatcomessufficientlyclosetorealitytoremaineternalandglobal.

Holtwijk (2009, in Figueredo et al., 2009:15)34, elaborate on the clichés, claiming that ‘from Sydney to San Francisco and from Stavanger to Soweto: people everywhere are familiar with Rio’s carnival (figure 19) and there is always someone who has heard of the Bossa Nova, Tom Jobim, Sérgio Mendes and Bebel Gilberto or can hum the tune to Garota de Ipanema — The Girl from Ipanema. (…) People watch Brazilian soap operas, the telenovelas, in China as well as in the USA. Paulo Coelho ranks among the 20 most widely read living authors in the world. Musician and composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) ranks among the world’s most frequently performed modern composers. And — the footballers aside — the most famous living Brazilian is the architect Oscar Niemeyer, dubbed ´the Picasso of architecture’.

It is true that all these manifestations have contributed to the formation of Brazilian culture, locally and abroad, but they also illustrate how difficult it is to establish a ‘distinctive cultural idiom’ that is not reduced to mere nationalism but rather captures the diversity of what is being created (Bouman, Ex and Visschedijk, in Figueredo et al., 2009: 09).

By breaking away from these already familiar images, we are able to broaden our visual repertoire and start to see a new side of the society, one that is rich in multicultural traditions. Recent festivals such as ‘Brazil Contemporary’ (Holland, 2009) and ‘Festival Brazil’ (London 2010) showcase what is currently being produced in the music, theatre, literature, cinema and visual arts fields. These events make it somewhat easier for a large audience to broaden their cultural repertoire about Brazil.

Costa, Meyer, Vásquez and Klanten (2003:07) explain why it is difficult to separate a country from its clichés:

...theboundarybetweenidentityandclichéisblurredbecauseidentityisthesumofourdailyexperience,oftraditionandalsoofourgoals.Identityhasatendencytobeunconsciousbecauseitscomponentsconstantlysurroundus.Thus,weoftenbecomeawareofitonlywhencomparedtooutsiders.

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FIGURE 19: A TRADITIONAL BAIANA INRIO’SSAMBODROMECARNIVALPARADE,2009.

A very simple experiment was conducted during my first Major Project Proposal presentation and Design and Rhetoric Unit work. First, for the “textile” reference to Brazil, I showed to a multicultural group of 20 people at college, five different unlabelled traditional textile patterns from five different countries: England, Japan, India, Scotland and Brazil (figure 20).

What followed was set of images that I found online about each of the five countries, followed again by its traditional textile patterns. The connection between the images and textiles from England (figure 21), Japan (figure 22), India (figure 23) and Scotland (figure 24) was clearly assimilated by the students but Brazil was not. In my opinion, this might be as the less cultural diversity within a country and the older a culture is, the more instantly it is associated with its traditional textiles patterns.

Therefore, it is understandable features such as an aerial view of the Amazon, Rio’s Sugar Loaf Mountain and a woman wearing a carnival costume cannot by themselves be associated with the big, colourful flower pattern, as these features represent mainly that first clichéd view of the country (figure 25).

Secondly, I showed, to the same group, a broader collection of images that portrayed Brazil’s multiculturalism, traditional festivities, architecture, flora and fauna (figure 26). These made it easier to assimilate the richness of this country and therefore the subtle references that can be seen in the textile. I knew then that my research had to be as much about the context as it is about textile.

The first step was to study the textile per se before I investigated the possible references it had acquired.

FIGURE 20

FIGURE 21

FIGURE 22

FIGURE23

FIGURE 24

FIGURE25

FIGURE 26

4.2 TEXTILE

The work undertaken throughout the visual experimentation phase of the project was significant as it allowed me gain a better understanding of what the basic elements composing the chita pattern are. Shape, scale, colour combination and the figurative illustrations were analysed and divided into the following categories:

Pattern Elements I removed of basic elements that comprised a pattern one by one: background,

tertiary and secondary elements. This enabled me to uncover the main unit. Although the main units consisted mainly of flowers and birds, each combination is unique, largely due to the colours chosen in each design.

Animated Patterns I created a video animation by using the ‘pattern elements’ frames. This enabled me

to determine either how the pattern was depicted or how it was constructed.

FIGURE 27: PATTERN ELEMENTS

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Colour Variations (figure 28) Chita patterns typically use primary colours (blue, red and yellow) and secondary

colours (green, orange and violet) in their combinations. By introducing a range of new shades such as light pink, pale blue, aquamarine and lilac, to name a few, a fresh set of patterns emerged – one that could no longer be described as chita but that was closer to its chintz origins, resembling the patterns designed by William Morris.

Multicultural Patterns (figure 29). As a result of the removal of individual, as per the first experiment, a combination of

chita motifs and tartan backgrounds was compiled. This resulted in a unique and intriguing set of prints that no longer represents the country in which they originated.

InteriorSpaces(figure 30) An interior space designed by William Morris was altered by replacing the existing

wallpaper with a range of chita patterns. The result was an inevitable clash in style that demonstrated how far the Brazilian textile has strayed from its chintz heritage

VisualMaps (figures 5 and 11) Visual maps were created to display Brazilian immigration patterns and the chintz-

trade routes, which started from India to Europe and came to include routes from Europe to Brazil

FIGURE 28: COLOUR VARIATIONS

48 | 49FIGURE 29: MULTICULTURAL PATTERNS

FIGURE30:INTERIORSPACES

threading network

about countries images designers upload

(con)textile is a project about virtually collecting and sharing textile patterns from different countries. People from all over the world will capture and upload images of textiles on a webpage building a visual catalogue which would enable a vast cultural exchange.

THREADING NETWORK

about countries images designers upload THREADING NETWORK

about countries images designers upload

brazil

THREADING NETWORK

FIGURE32:[CON]TEXTILETHREADING NETWORK PROPOSEDWEBSITE

[Con]Textile–ThreadingNetwork (figure 32) I proposed to construct a [Con]textile Threading Networkwebsite. Although this

project could not be completed due to limited time and resources, I describe its purpose and envisaged functioning here. It would entail virtually collecting and sharing textile patterns from different countries. People from all over the world would capture and upload i mages of textiles on a webpage, thus building a visual catalogue that would enable a vast cultural exchange. The map on the website would be fed by images and each country would be filled by their textile as the collection spreads. Visitors would be able to explore the patterns by their tags and thereby understand more about how a culture influences a textile and how cultures distinguish themselves based on their textile tradition. All uploaded images would be gathered to build a live, growing digital database. Each image would be tagged to a country, category (abstract, flowers, nature and so on), textile material (cotton, silk, polyester, nylon), designer, and year of production. There would also be the opportunity to add a description or further information about the production process or even historical background about a specific style.

All the visual tests, ideas, images and research can be seen online on the [Con]Textile blog (figure 33) in the following sections: What I Have Been Looking At, What I Have Been Making and Photos I Have Taken.

Together they comprise the foundation of my research. The content has then be edited into a book in an attempt to visually answer the question ‘How can a textile influence and be influenced by a culture?’

FIGURE33:[CON]TEXTILEBLOG

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5| CONCLUSION

Thedissonantworldwebothtriedtoinvent.(CaetanoVeloso)

The development of a project is never an easy task but that does not mean that it is not a joyful one. When I first decided to explore this Brazilian pattern I was not aware of how much I would learn in the process. Research has a way of taking you to unexpected places by making you rethink your beliefs and assumptions and reinventing your reality.

Textile by itself is such a vast subject to explore, let alone when it is combined with complex phenomena such as culture and national identity. Undoubtedly the biggest task within this project was selecting the gathered information. By the time I had collected important and iconic visual art images of Brazilian history from 1500 – 2010, I realised that I would have to narrow my focus and set a timeframe to work within.

It was no surprise to me that coincidently the most significant change in the chita pattern was made alongside the cultural revolution that was happening in Brazil during the 1950s and 60s. It was the perfect starting point to narrow my previous selection – not only to make sense of it all but also to study it in the most informative and aesthetically pleasing way possible.

I wanted to be able to clearly demonstrate that this idea of a textile influencing and being influenced by a culture is a fluid concept, with each person capable of making their own, personal associations. This was the intention behind my placing two books next to each other and binding them into one. The first book presents a piece of fabric indicating the accurate colours and scale. This is positioned next to an image of the textile showing the pattern as a whole. In the second book, I have placed on one side images taken from the Brazilian visual arts scene from the 1950s to 1970s, followed by a photograph of tropical fauna, flora, landscapes and traditional festivities.

The experience of going through both books at once, and having the prominent colours of the central images next to each other put into a colour scale, is a subtle way of helping the reader to rethink each set of spreads. This demonstrates the idea of ‘influencing’ and ‘being influenced by’ as a constant exchange that does not stop as you turn to the next page.

Today contemporary artists and designers still look at the Tropicália Movement and its concepts as well as chita patterns as sources of inspiration in their work and for a country like Brazil with such a recent cultural history and in some ways still in search for its identity to be inpiring other cultures is a great achievement.

By no means will this project end here. This research has opened up numerous possibilities that I had not anticipated when I first started. The initial proposal to curate an exhibition on the subject is something that I would like to take forward. Given the opportunity, it would be a great challenge to transpose my findings into a spatial format. Secondly, the construction of the [Con]textile Threading Network website, which had to be abandoned due to limited time and resources, remains a crucial vehicle for promoting interactive cultural exchange.

Finally, I hope to expand my discoveries into a research degree level, as this subject has not yet been extensively examined, as evidenced by its limited bibliography.

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6| CHRONOLOGY

1950s 1960s[1] 1952 [2] 1954 [3] 1964

1970s

[7] 1968/1969

[13] 1969 [14] 1974 [15] 1975

[8] 1968 [9] 1968

Chronology of the Brazilian visual arts works chosen to be part of the [Con]textile book: 1950-1980s.

[4] 1964 [5] 1967 [6] 1967

1980s[16] 1975 [17] 1975 [18] 1981

[10] 1968 [11] 1968 [12] 1969

7| BIBLIOGRAPHY

REFERENCE LIST

Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

Boydell, C and Schoeser, M. (2002) Disentangling Textiles: Techniques for the study of designed objects. UK: Middlesex University Press.

Cole, D. (Editor) (2003) 1000 Patterns. UK: A & C Black Publishers Ltd

Cardoso, R. (Editor) (2005) O Design Brasileiro Antes do Design: Aspectos da História Gráfica, 1870-1960 (Brazilian Design Before Design: Graphic History Aspects, 1870-1960). Brazil: Cosac Naif

Collet, A. and Sharrad, P. (2004) Postcolonialism and Creativity: v. 3 (Reinventing Textiles). UK: Telos Art Publishing

Crill, R. (2008) Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West, UK: V & A Publishing

Figueredo, L., Gierstberg, F., Guldemond, J., Holtwijk, I., Meurs, P. and Woensel, B. (2009) Brazil Contemporary: Architecture, Visual Culture, Art. Netherlands: Nai Publishers

Freyre, G. (2009) Modos de Homem e Modas de Mulheres (Men’s Modes and Women’s Fashion). Brazil: Global Editora e Distribuidora SA

Harris, J. (1993) 5000 Years of Textiles. UK: British Museum Press

Homen de Melo, C. (Editor) (2006) O Design Gráfico Brasileiro Anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design in the 60’s). Brazil: Cosac Naif

Mellão, R. and Imbroisi, R. (2005) Que Chita Bacana (What a nice Chita). Brazil: A Casa

Napolitano, M. (2004) Cultura Brasileira: Utopia e Massificação (1950-1980) (Brazilian Culture: Utopia and Massification [1950-1980]). Brazil: Contexto.

Ortiz, R. (2006) Cultura Brasileira e Identidade Nacional (Brazilian Culture and National Identity). Brazil: Editora Brasiliense

Ramírez, M. (2007) Hélio Oiticica The Body of Colour. UK: Tate Publishing

Vannuchi, A. (2006) Cultura Brasileira: O que é, Como se faz (Brazilian Culture: What it is and How it is done). Brazil: Edições Loyola

WORKS CONSULTED BUT NOT LISTED

Anvil Graphic Design (Compilation) (2005) Pattern and Palette Sourcebook: A Complete Guide to Using Color in Design. UK: Rockport Publishers Inc.

Buarque de Holanda (1995) Raízes do Brasil (Brazilian Roots). Brazil: Companhia das Letras

Genders, C. (2009) Pattern, Colour and Form: Creative Approaches by Artists. A & C Black Publishers Ltd

Heidi, A. (2007) Pattern and Palette Sourcebook: Bk. 2: A Complete Guide to Choosing the Perfect Color and Pattern in Design. UK: Rockport Publishers Inc.

Morris, W. (1988) Full-colour Patterns and Designs. USA: Dover Publications Inc.

Ormiston, R. and Robson, M., (2007) Colour Source Book. UK: Flame Tree Publishing

Robinson, S. (1969) A History of Printed Textiles – Block, Roller, Screen, Design, Dyes, Fibres, Discharge, Resist; Further Sources for Research. UK: Studio Vista London

Stephenson, K. and Hampshire, M. (2006) Stripes: Communicating with Patterns. Switzerland: Rotovision SA

Stephenson, K. and Hampshire, M. (2008) Squares, Checks and Grids: Communicating with Patterns. Switzerland: Rotovision SA

Schmidt, P., Tietenberg, A. and Wollheim, R.,(Editors) (2007) Patterns in Design, Art and Architecture. Birkhauser Verlag AG

Wells, N. (2005) Arts and Crafts. UK: Flame Tree Publishing

Wilhide , E. (1991) William Morris Decor and Design. UK: Pavilion Books

WEBSITES CONSULTED

http://www.mcb.sp.gov.br/mcbItem.asp?sMenu=P002&sTipo=5&sItem=227&sOrdem=1 (19/10/09)

http://www.bhatik.co.uk/textiles.aspx (24/01/2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road (21/10/2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company (21/10/2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris (21/10/10)

http://vagalume.uol.com.br/g-r-e-s-estacio-de-sa-rj/samba-enredo-2009.html (15/07/10)

http://www.aescrj.com.br/escolas2009/grupoA/ESTACIO%20DE%20SA2009.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Novo (20/10/10)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_wheel (20/10/10)

IMAGE SOURCES

Figure 1: Parry, L. (2009) Indian Florals. UK: V & A Publishing

Figure 2: Parry, L. (2009) Indian Florals. UK: V & A Publishing

Figure 3: Crill, R. (2009) William Morris. UK: V & A Publishing

Figure 4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Morris_Tulip_and_Willow_design_1873.jpg (22/10/10) Drawing for block-printed fabric Tulip and Willow by William Morris. (Identification from Linda Parry, William Morris Textiles, New York, Viking Press, 1983, p. 147)

Figure 5: Barbi, L. (Photographs of Chitinha, Personal Archive)

Figure 6: Barbi, L. (Chintz Route Map)

Figure 7: Mellão, R. and Imbroisi, R. (2005) Que Chita Bacana (What a nice Chita). Brazil: A Casa

Figure 8: Mellão, R. and Imbroisi, R. (2005) Que Chita Bacana (What a nice Chita). Brazil: A Casa

Figure 09: Barbi, L. (Photographs of Chita, Personal Archive)

Figure 10: Varella, G. and Moutinho, V. in http://reflorestarohumano.blogspot.com/2010/05/carta-da-amogaia-favor-da-vida-do-xingu.html (29/10/10)

Figure 11: Barbi, L. (Brazilian Immigration Route Map)

Figure 12: Embratur (Brazilian Tourist Board – Promotional photos)

Figure 13: Mellão, R. and Imbroisi, R. (2005) Que Chita Bacana (What a nice Chita!). Brazil: A Casa

Figure 14: Vogue Cover (1926) http://richgirlsandrollerskates.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/flashback-1926-vogue-cover/ (05/10/2010) and Cardoso, R. (Editor) (2005) O Design Brasileiro Antes do Design: Aspectos da História Gráfica, 1870-1960 (Brazilian Design Before Design: Graphic History Aspects, 1870-1960). Brazil: Cosac Naif

Figure 15: Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira: 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture: 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

Figure 16: Photo of Tropicália installation by Hélio Oiticica in Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira: 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture: 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

Figure 17: Homen de Melo, C. (Editor) (2006) O Design Gráfico Brasileiro Anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design in the 60’s). Brazil: Cosac Naif

Figure 18: Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

Figure 19: Photo by Tambke, E.

Figure 20: Crill, R. (2009) William Morris. UK: V & A Publishing, http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/special/exhibitions/fabricasian/japan/images/j9.jpg,, Cole, D. (Editor) (2003) 1000 Patterns. UK: A & C Black Publishers Ltd and Barbi, L. (Photographs of Chita, Personal Archive)

Figure 21: ENGLAND (Tea set) http://bailiwickdesigns.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/23/tea1.jpg, (Queen Elizabeth) http://www.webhistoryofengland.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Elizabeth_II_greets_NASA_GSFC_employees_May_8_2007_edit.jpg (English Cottage) http://queenofmytrailer.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/cottagegarden.jpg (Textiles) http://www.flickr.com/photos/28240971@N04/3141094456/in/set-72157606090598216/ and Crill, R. (2009) William Morris. UK: V & A Publishing

Figure 22: JAPAN (Geisha) http://www.finnair.com/japan/static/images/japan_overview_2.jpg (Landscape) http://www2.hiren.info/desktopwallpapers/thumb/garden-staircase_kyoto_japan.jpg (Japanese Print) http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/special/exhibitions/fabricasian/japan/images/j9.jpg (Textile) http://highstreetblog.com/wp-content/uploads/Japanese-textile-two.jpg and http://www.flickr.com/photos/thea_starr/2326285776/in/photostream/

Figure 23: INDIA (People) http://www.phototracs.com/images/india_people_700_0014.jpg (Spices) http://japanfocus.org/data/spices.jpg

Figure 24: SCOTLAND (Castles) http://wallpapersforyou.info/Travel/Edinburgh%20Castle,%20Edinburgh,%20Scotland.jpg

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Figure 25 AND 26: BRAZIL (Rio de Janeiro) http://www.allbestpictures.com/travel_and_holiday-corcovado_overlooking_rio_de_janeiro,_brazil_picture.html (Carnival costume) http://www.brazilcarnival.com.br/upload_images/Massafera_Grazil_2007.jpg (Amazon River) http://downloads.open4group.com/wallpapers/floresta-amazonica-a8f06.jpg (Birds) http://www.papagaiosecia.com.br/wp-content/gallery/arara/arara-casal.jpg (Flora and Chita) Barbi L. (Flora photos)

Figure 27: Barbi, L. (2010) Pattern Elements, Visual Experiment

Figure 28: Barbi, L. (2010) Chita Visual Experiment

Figure 29: Barbi, L. (2010) Multicultural Patterns, Visual Experiment

Figure 30: (Unmodified Interior) (William Morris) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/37281/35359/A-room-decorated-in-the-Arts-and-Crafts-style-by

Figure 31: Barbi, L. (2010) Contextile Threading Network Website

Figure 32: Image for Barbi, L. (2010) Contextile Blog(www.contextile.blogspot.com)

CHRONOLOGY IMAGE INFORMATION

[1] 1952, Book cover: Lampião in Cardoso, R. (Editor) (2005) O Design Brasileiro Antes do Design: Aspectos da História Gráfica, 1870-1960 (Brazilian Design Before Design: Graphic History Aspects, 1870-1960). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[2] 1954, Dorival Caymmi’s LP cover in Cardoso, R. (Editor) (2005) O Design Brasileiro Antes do Design: Aspectos da História Gráfica, 1870-1960 (Brazilian Design Before Design: Graphic History Aspects, 1870-1960). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[3] 1964, Os Fuzis film poster in Homen de Melo, C. (Editor) (2006) O Design Gráfico Brasileiro Anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design in the 60’s). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[4] 1968, Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol film poster in Homen de Melo, C. (Editor) (2006) O Design Gráfico Brasileiro Anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design in the 60’s). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[5] 1967, Two Sides of the ‘Cube’ in Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[6] 1967, Hélio Oiticica’s Seja Marginal, Seja Herói flag in Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[7] 1968/1969, Brasil Ano 2000 film poster in Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[8] 1968, Tom Zé’s LP cover in Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[9] 1968, O Bandido da Luz Vermelha film poster in Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[10] 1968, Caetano Veloso’s LP coverin Homen de Melo, C. (Editor) (2006) O Design Gráfico Brasileiro Anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design in the 60’s). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[11] 1968, Gilberto Gil’s LP cover in Homen de Melo, C. (Editor) (2006) O Design Gráfico Brasileiro Anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design in the 60’s). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[12] 1969, Meteorando kid film poster Homen de Melo, C. (Editor) (2006) O Design Gráfico Brasileiro Anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design in the 60’s). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[13] 1969, Macunaíma film poster in Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[14] 1974, Navilouca Magazine cover in Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[15] 1975, Tim Maia’s Racional LP cover in http://arquivodominduim.blogspot.com/2010/04/tim-maia-racional-vol-1.html (25/10/10)

[16] 1975, Gal Costa’s Cantar LP cover in Homen de Melo, C. (Editor) (2006) O Design Gráfico Brasileiro Anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design in the 60’s). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[17] 1975, Caetano Veloso’s Qualquer Coisa LP cover in Homen de Melo, C. (Editor) (2006) O Design Gráfico Brasileiro Anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design in the 60’s). Brazil: Cosac Naif

[18] 1981, O Homem do Pau Brasil film poster in Basualdo, C. (Editor) (2007) Tropicália: Uma Revolução na Cultura Brasileira – 1967-1972 (Tropicalia: A Revolution in the Brazilian Culture – 1967-1972). Brazil: Cosac Naif