Canada

Textile Museum of Canada
Battleground
April 23, 2008 – January 2009

Helicopters, AK-47 rifles, armoured personnel carriers, grenades, tanks, bombers, land mines, machine guns. These are the images on a new and electrifying kind of oriental rug - the “war rugs” from Afghanistan.

When the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Afghan weavers found their world turned upside down, the sky and the earth thick with weaponry. On their rugs flowers turned into cluster bombs, birds turned into airplanes. The disaster continued with ten years of brutal civil war. And it continues today as international forces battle in an ancient land that has exploded. For more information see http://www.textilemuseum.ca.

Textile Museum of Canada
Close to You: Contemporary Textiles, Intimacy and Popular Culture

Through October 12, 2008
Close to You examines the use of idioms and images from popular culture in the work of contemporary artists from Canada and the US. Participating artists Ai Kijima, Scott Kildall, Allyson Mitchell, Mark Newport and Michèle Provost explore popular myth, comic book heroics and contemporary social and sexual mores through their material practices of knitting, appliqué, embroidery and crochet. Their evident skill and craftsmanship acknowledges traditional craft values even as their cultural and critical sensibilities position them within contemporary practices. For more information, please visit http://www.textilemuseum.ca

Textile Museum of Canada
Battleground: Patches – Military Uniform Insignia
Through January 27, 2009

Soldiers wear patches on their uniforms to identify their fighting units. These woven and embroidered insignia are often beautifully designed and reflect each unit’s specialty and battlefield history. Some of the patches, with their drawings of weaponry, are a key image-source for the Afghan weavers, and can be seen in the war rugs exhibited in Battleground: War Rugs from Afghanistan. In addition there are unofficial “off-duty” patches that brag about military prowess or express a loathing for the enemy, offering an insight into the mindset of soldiers on the ground. For more information, please visit http://www.textilemuseum.ca

England

Victoria and Albert Museum
The Story of the Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection
Though October 19, 2008

A display of performance costumes worn by The Supremes, one of the most successful groups of the sixties - only the Beatles had more number one hits. The display shows the changing image of The Supremes from the early days when they were known as The Primettes to the glamorous Hollywood designs they wore at the height of their fame, and looks at their continuing stylistic influence on performers such as Beyoncé.