Thread of Silk

The ancient Silk Road was a network of trade routes that stretched from China across Central Asia to India, Africa, and Europe from the second century B.C. to the fifteenth century A.D. Silk was one of the major luxury goods traded along the whole route throughout this period. 

A passion for the magnificent legacy of ancient Eastern cultures, coupled with the news that part of the British Library’s Silk Road Exhibition (curated in 2004 by Dr Susan Whitfield) was to come to Manchester for the re-opening of the John Rylands Library in May 2007, was the driving force behind this Thread of Silk exhibition, held as part of Manchester’s 11th Ars Ornata Europeana Conference on the theme ‘Inside Out’. 

We asked 18 international jewellery artists to look inside the riches of the ancient empires of the Silk Road and to bring them out into the twenty-first century using their own responses and interpretations. 

The merging of cultures that span a millennium of history has proved a fascinating project for all of us, and the results are richly varied. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to respond to the deep poetic interpretation of Leonor Hipólito’s Thread of Silk; one can almost smell spices in the colours of Estela Guitart’s Inro. Ursula Guttmann’s Cupule communicates a very tactile sensibility, while Simone Nolden’s Mupadatta confront us with the social implications of ancient and modern human trafficking. Tusheeta David’s Soul Trap uses materials that encapsulate the soul of India. Vivid colours and a modern approach to materials and technology are shown in Shelby Fitzpatrick’s Avalokitesvara and Uighur, and Kalsang Shoba’s Lemma Series, whereas the encounter with mysticism in Chi-Wing Lou’s Qian Tong transports us to ancestral beliefs. With Katori Rajesh Gogna presents a balance between the functional and spiritual aspects of our lives, while Masooma Syed delicately makes us think about our more inner selves, and Yoko Izawa confronts us with the reality of our lives with her Life Surviving and Life Fighting. Mette T. Jensen’s Bookline reconciles two everlasting objects, wood and books, while Martha Camargo Lawrance’s Juān Zhòu and Máo Bî reminds us of the messages communicated by the written word. The beauty and luxury of jewels are palpable in Marianne Anderson’s Ornamental Frame Brooch and Jung-Ji Kim’s Gold Knots Brooch, which also adds elements of the spirituality and diligence of her ancestors. Alex Bushell’s King Cotton to Khotan wittily and appositely presents the legacy of these ancient cultures in Manchester old and new, while Felieke van der Leest’s enchanted childhood memories are used to bring into focus the love of fashion and jewellery of the women of the Silk Road, and Ruth Robinson’s silk necklaces speak of her experiences and travels in China.

Martha Camargo Lawrance