It's a Blue World

Label

Bhasha Chakrabarti’s It’s a Blue World represents the globalized histories of indigo, the etymology of which identifies the blue dye as a “product of India.” Major eighteenth-century indigo plantations were found in India and the American South; Chakrabarti maps these imperial cartographies in yellow thread—tracing ancient and colonial era indigo trade routes. The work itself is crafted with indigo sourced from throughout the world. There are patches of Adire textiles throughout the quilt that parallel the Adire textiles made by Nigerian women on view throughout this gallery.

The alternative side of the quilt is inspired by the Gees Bend quilters in Alabama. Chakrabarti spent time in Gees Bend in 2020 with China Pettway, Mary Ann Pettway, and numerous other esteemed quilters. The denim used is Chakrabarti’s collection of old jeans, a nod to not only practices of bricolage that Gees Bend quilters are known for, but also an homage to the revolutionary history of indigo, especially the 1739 Stono Rebellion in South Carolina and the 1859 Indigo Revolt (Nil Bidroha) in Bengal.

From the 2023 exhibition Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, curated by Alexandra Thomas, Curatorial Research Associate

Course History

First Year Student Enrichment Program – Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Colleen Lannon, Summer 2023

First Year Student Enrichment Program - Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Mokhtar Bouba, Summer 2023

Philosophy 1.11, Art: True, Beautiful, Nasty, John Kulvicki, Summer 2023

Writing 2.05, Why Write, Anyway?, Erkki Mackey, Fall 2023

Writing 5.24, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Fall 2023

Writing 5.25, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Fall 2023

Anthropology 31.01, Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies 36.01, Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives, Sabrina Billings, Fall 2023

Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Fall 2023

Art History 89.06, Senior Seminar: Theory and Method, Adedoyin Teriba, Fall 2023

Creative Writing 10.02, Writing and Reading Fiction, Katherine Crouch, Fall 2023

Geography 11.01, Qualitative Methods, Emma Colven, Fall 2023

Geography 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Fall 2023

Writing 5.04, How to Look, John Barger, Fall 2023

Writing 5.34, How to Look, John Barger, Fall 2023

Humanities 2.01, The Modern Labyrinth, Dennis Washburn, Paul Carranza, Ainsley Morse, Laura Edmondson, Winter 2024

Writing 5.06, Image and Text, Becky Clark, Winter 2024

Writing 5.07, Image and Text, Becky Clark, Winter 2024

Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Spring 2024

Geography 21.01, International Studies 18.01, Global Health and Society, Anne Sosin, Spring 2024

College Course 21.01, What's In Your Shoebox?, Francine A'Ness and Mokhtar Bouba, Spring 2024

College Course 21.01, What's In Your Shoebox?, Francine A'Ness and Mokhtar Bouba, Spring 2024

Exhibition Tour: Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, Summer 2023

Exhibition History

Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, and Northeast Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 22, 2023–May 25, 2024.

Provenance

The artist, Bhasha Chakrabarti, New Haven, Connecticut; sold to present collection, 2022.

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