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About Me
My interest in the clothing traditions of
other cultures came about in two ways: - at the age of four, I was taken to a
performance of the Russian opera, "Prince Igor" by Alexander
Borodin, which with its wonderful medieval Russian costumes made a deep
impression on me. Amazingly I still have fleeting memories of this event. It
appears to have triggered my keen interest in early Russian dress traditions
and, by extension those of countries to the east. (I have recently acquired a
large collection of dolls in Russian historical and folk costumes.)
Secondly, I watched "The World About
Us" television series which aired in the early seventies. This featured,
among others, programmes on New Guinea tribes with their wonderful ornaments
and featherwork. After this I never really looked back. Having realised that other
ways of dress and adornment existed or had existed, I set
myself a task to research as much visual material as possible about these
traditions, an activity which still occupies much of my leisure time.
In the mid seventies my parents moved to
Kenya, and there I had the opportunity to visit tribes such as the Maasai
whose traditions were still strong and who still retained their distinctive
clothes. I collected a variety of beaded jewellery, fertility dolls and other
indigenous items and read "The Peoples of Kenya" by Joy Adamson.
After my research (admittedly limited) on the cultures of Kenya I turned my attention to
India and set myself a (mad!) project to amass as much pictorial material as
possible on its traditions and costumes. In hindsight I feel I didn't do too badly
and would have been lost without access to "The Illustrated
Weekly of India" magazine. Even so, India's remote northeast remained
unknown to me, and only in more recent years did I become aware of
this region at all. Indeed my (as yet,"armchair") reseach on Indian culture continues.
I never cease to be amazed by the artistic
output of traditional cultures: the smallest detail of a textile, or simply a
cascade of mixed bead necklaces against traditional fabric, see "The
Seven Sisters of India", or the magnificence of ceremonial costumes
among tribal groups in China,Tibet and Mongolia. I feel at times the latter reminds
me of those marvellous costumes of the Russian operas. (see "Rainbow of the Kangba")
I gained a post gradute diploma in
Anthropology from Durham University in 1991, during the course of which I
concentrated on hunter-gatherer studies, together with art, myth and material
culture.
I also have a growing
interest in myths, legends and folk tales and their remarkable similarities
around the world, and also how many such stories have influenced the world of
classical music and literature. This has led to an interest in the operas of
Richard Wagner and the writings of J R R Tolkien.
Siriol Richards, August 2003.
