Silk River Unfurls
Exhibition and Community Programme at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - celebrating the connections between Britain and India through plants, people, art and artefacts
As part of UK/India 2017*, witness the result of a year-long international community collaboration between artists in India and London (led by Kinetika) as 20 vibrant hand-painted Silk Scrolls are unfurled in the Nash Conservatory at Kew. Each silk tells the story of one of 20 locations along either the Thames or India’s Hooghly River.
In early 2017 Silk River hosted community workshops at Kew for Indian Artists and local community groups to explore and gain inspiration from the Gardens – which led to the production of one of the 20 Silk Scrolls. Artist’s talks, live interpretation, performance, a community private view and hands on workshops will bring these stories to life across the week.
This project marks a step change for Kew in its community engagement, placing community co-creation at the heart of a high profile exhibition which will be hosted in the stunning Nash Conservatory.
Further funding will allow us to build an engaging programme of related participatory activities to complement the display and explore Kew’s connections to India, making them relevant to a range of new audiences.
The event will target specific underrepresented audiences including: Local Community Groups, BAME audiences, Local Asian communities, Elder’s Groups and Early Years groups.
