20 June 2008
British Bridal Sari competition
The British Sari Story 2008 competition is offering a £250 top prize for a design for a British Bridal Sari. Do you have a vision of a sari showing the hopes, dreams and experience of a British Asian bride? Traditionally bridal saris have fantastic beading and embroidery from south Asia.
Detail of a Gharcholu sari, worn by brides in Gujarat,
India
Credit: Flexeflix/Bridging Arts
"But we're looking for something new – British beading, embroidery and embellishment, reflecting British Asian experience in the UK . We hope you will be as imaginative as possible with your entry. We could see a tweed sari with a heather embroidered motif – or a Welsh sari with leeks and daffodils! Entrants are free to use whatever they like in their embroidery - buttons instead of sequins... The possibilities are endless..."
Finalists' work will become part of the British Sari Story touring exhibition, celebrating British Asian life today. This exhibition is currently at the Harley Gallery, Worksop. Winners will be announced when the exhibition opens at the Charnwood Museum, Loughborough, in October 2008.
Entry is free and is open to all. Closing date 31 August 2008.
More information from the Bridging Arts web site, where an application form can be downloaded; or email , tel 020 8749 9010.
Nilesh Mistry, a Mumbai-born illustrator now based in north-west London, won the top prize in the 2007 competition with his Sari for Harrow. The five metres of silk show Harrow's coat of arms and the famous public school but also the "real" Harrow - an exquisite border of its citizens including a Somali woman in a Burka, a hoodie with a mobile phone, a Gujarati housewife, a Polish builder and Afro Caribbean woman and a mullah.