Benares Carpet Weaver in Exeter
From the collection of
From the collection of
A carpet weaver from Benares demonstrates his weaving ways.
A carpet weaver originating from Benares (Banares) today known as Varanasi in North India's Uttar Pradesh is filmed in his shop demonstrating carpet weaving. The Varanasi-Bhadohi-Mirzapur belt in Uttar Pradesh in North India is well known for carpet production.
Traditional carpet weavers of the Varanasi region have spread their skills worldwide and the area has a Geographical Indication of origin with 'handmade carpet of Bhadohi'. Bhadohi is known as carpet city with most of its production aimed at the export market. The area specialises in Indian woollen carpet weaving and hand-tufted knotted carpets. The area is also known for silk weaving and making saris. More than 3 million South Asians live in Britain today following a period of modern migration which started in the 1950s and 1960s.
From local news to feature film, through home movies and TV documentaries, this collection showcases South Asian Britons in front of and behind the camera. The contribution of colonial troops is illuminated through the earliest newsreels, while hardhitting current affairs programmes highlight the struggles faced in the 1960s, 1970s and beyond. Public information films produced for South Asian audiences feature alongside Hindi-language films made in Britain and interviews with prominent Asian-British figures. A bold wave of British Asian filmmaking in the 1990s is represented through early works by the likes of Gurinder Chadha and Asif Kapadia.