What does Turkey red and Indian madder have in common? These questions led Katy West, an independent curator in Glasgow, to hunt for stories of craft and colonisation hidden in madder red, a dye that has not faded with time. Last year, India Street Bazaar, a collective show inspired by the Bombay Sample Book, to make contemporary designs in madder red, opened in Tramway, Glasgow. In Ahmedabad’s old city, they chanced on an angarkha (the traditional men’s wrap-over) in Turkey red, an organic pigment dye extracted from the root of the Indian madder. Parekh’s own fascination with Turkey red runs deep — from folklore references to ox-blood to Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red.

Source: The Hindu November 10, 2017 09:45 UTC