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development schemes. Making traditional crafts
and engaging in any livelihood related to them was
severely punished. With the change in political
policies beginning in the 1980s and '90s there has
been a resurgence of nationalism and the growth
of a new market economy has helped reinstate
traditional customs. For
suzanis
it has meant a revival,
with age-old skills of embroidery flourishing again
and reinventing themselves in different forms. It was
also during this period that Jasleen Dhamija worked
for the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) in Central Asia with a focus on Uzbekistan.
Her work concentrated on the revival of
suzani
,
S
uzanis
are remarkably vibrant flower-strewn
cloths fromCentral Asia. Exquisitely embroidered,
they served as cradle covers, wrappers for gifts, bed
canopies, niche curtains, tent decorations and wall
hangings. The word ‘suzani’ is derived from
suzan
,
the Farsi word for needle. Embroidered cloths were
made famous in cities along the Silk Road: Bokhara,
Samarkand, Shakhrisabz, Tashkent and Ferghana, in
Central Asia.The earliest known
suzanis
date from the
mid-18
th
century, though the tradition of embroidery
was most certainly practised before that. Among the
fragments of textiles found at excavations at Pazyryk
in Siberia, were materials with embroidery patterns
with chain stitch similar to those used today. By the
19
th
century, embroiderers showed an unsurpassed
skill in the artistry of composition and needlework.
Women of the family traditionally embroidered
suzanis
; they were made for domestic use and were an
essential part of a bride’s dowry. All girls were taught
to sew from an early age and a girl’s
suzanis
were
proof of her needlework skills and marriageability,
and a demonstration of her economic value to her
husband’s family. The extraordinary beauty and
brightness of the
suzani
was said to reflect a mother’s
aspirations for her daughter’s future. These dowry
textiles were considered to have magical properties
related to protection, fertility, and the birth of
progeny, bringing positive energy to the bride’s new
home. Their presence at weddings, as bridal canopies
and marriage bed-sheets, was prominent and each
stitch represented the bride’s hopes and dreams of
her happiness.
Making a
suzani
involved many women in the
household, especially the larger ones. It began by
loosely joining narrow widths of fabric together so that
a
kalamkash
or designer, could draw the pattern over
the surface and assist in the selection of colours. The
strips were then taken apart and shared among the
women for the actual embroidery. It was not unusual
to find that the panels did not match perfectly when
SUZANI
reassembled or that the two halves of a piece were not
symmetrical. The women often left a small portion of
the composition empty as a gesture implying that only
Allah could be capable of perfect creation.
Flowers and leaves are principal ornaments in
suzanis
, not surprising in a long-established
agricultural economy where gardens around homes
are filled with flowers. Most are highly abstracted
and their identity consequently uncertain. Some are
recognisable however as carnations, irises, roses and
tulips. Stylistically, the flower motifs on
suzanis
are
often reminiscent of Ottoman embroidery, Persian
embroidery and Indian palempores commonly
known as
chintz
(painted and dyed cotton wall-
hangings or coverlets), which is indicative of both
the longevity of the tradition and the cross-cultural
influences that formed them.
During the Soviet period many traditional crafts were
discouraged or banned, with both men and women
recruited for the Soviet industrial and agricultural
Suzani
hanging on a balcony in Karshi, Kashkadarya, 1996
Young Uzbek bride with the
Suzani
made by her mother. Uzbekistan,1996
as well as other textile arts such as
ikat
weaving,
felt making and research into natural dyes. During
this time, she acquired some old
suzanis
that were
representative of the different regions of Central Asia.
One spectacular large wall hanging from Tashkent,
with multiple sun-moon motifs or
palyak
, has hung
on the wall of her home for years.
Suzanis
made
before the 1920s and 1930s are prized by collectors
the world over, desired and acquired by the most
ardent of textile connoisseurs.