Geoffrey Bawa: It is Essential to be There is the first major exhibition which draws from the archives to look at Bawa’s practice. Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa (1919–2003) inadvertently began his practice as an architect, while practicing as a lawyer, with the purchase of an abandoned rubber and cinnamon estate, which he transformed into the garden that is now Lunuganga. From this first project in 1948, in the wake of the country’s newly gained independence from the British Empire, the practice is marked by architecture that seeks to uncover multivalent notions of place. Organized in four thematic sections exploring relationships between ideas, drawings, buildings and places, the exhibition examines the different ways in which images were used in Bawa’s practice.
The exhibition *Reading Sadu* is an introduction to the *sadu* craft, a weaving technique practiced by the nomadic tribes of Arabia. The exhibition presents the historical context of the sadu, its symbols and motifs, and a number of collected sadu pieces.
The Arabian desert was known for its nomadic tribes, the Badu, who moved between different locations across the desert searching for water and pasturelands. The Badu built distinctive nomadic structures, tents, that were shaped by the desert environment. Their movements across the desert required structures that could be frequently assembled, disassembled, and transported using camels. The responsibility of these homes belonged to Badu women, who were skilled weavers. They constructed their homes and decorated the interior textile walls with colorful symbols and motifs inspired by the desert ecology. These elaborative textiles were known as sadu.
The exhibition displays the contemporary work of Kuwait-based Sadu weavers and artists Aminah H. Alkanderi, Maha Al-Shimmery, Manal Almaimouni, Masirah Alenezi, Mutairah Aldhafeeri, Seetah Almarri, and Shareefa Abushalfa. They explore the craft in three categories: traditional compositions, expressive designs, and imaginative explorations of the Sadu. While the first two categories present work using the original weaving techniques of the Sadu, the third category involves new techniques and media. The symbols of the Sadu allow for many readings of the Arabian desert. This exhibition celebrates these readings and the work of Sadu weavers.
