Led by Cathleen Cummings Lecture: The “Ubiquitous” Sari

Sun, Apr 8 | 2pm
Lecture :The “Ubiquitous” Sari: Between Tradition and Modernity
Led by UAB Associate Professor of Art History, Cathleen Cummings M.A., Ph.D.
Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts
(1221 10th Ave South, Birmingham, AL 35205)
FREE | Presented by UAB’s Department of Art and Art History

The traditional female garment in much of South Asia – the sari – is one of the oldest known items of clothing still in use. It is also one of the most diverse of garments: its length varying from five to nine yards, the sari is a multifarious creation, appearing in disparate materials, and employing a wide array of designs and weaving and dying techniques. Indeed, there are at least thirty regional sari styles across South Asia, and more than eighty recorded ways to wear a sari.  At once associated with traditional, respectable married womanhood, the sari also has claims to urban, middle-class Indian modernity. In this talk, Cathleen Cummings will explore the range of visual, physical, and conceptual manifestations of the sari, and the role it plays in negotiations of Indian womanhood.