Project "FE"
KAGUL is more than just a fashion label; it is a cultural reclamation project, preserving and evolving a vital part of Sri Lankan heritage. The artists are dedicated to reviving and reimagining the rich tapestry of Southern Sri Lankan textile traditions. Rooted in the ritualistic practices of “thovil” and “shanthikarma,” KAGUL seeks to illuminate the often-overlooked artistry and cultural significance embedded within these practices and aims to elevate the marginalised status of these traditional craftspeople. Through contemporary reinterpretation, the project seeks to decode the gendered and cultural identities encoded within these textiles, bringing them into a contemporary dialogue.
Euro-centric colonialism, socio-political, and economic phenomena attributed to the gradual disruption of the continuity of its lineage. One of the key aspects that affected the future continuity was the lack of financial support which caused male-born heirs to choose other means to contribute to the role of a breadwinner. There is a tinge of unpredictability on the aspects of future continuation that uninformative showcases vulnerability that the tradition and its costume-making soon will be erased.
KAGUL as a platform’s core initiative, is to provide a milestone to recruit young apprentices and practitioners as initial steps to deflect the downfall and solidify a secure enclosure to this exuberant lineage of costume making.
In this journey, the platform sheds away from the traditional continuity structure, adding on practitioners beyond gendered, cultural mitigations. ( textile embroidery workshops created for queer bodies, women, and other segregated personals as a new entrepreneurship platform)
Our core discourse is around exploration through the context of speculation to find more about the tradition’s making process and conversations around the dormant queer eco-feminist conversations. Archaic material, oral narratives, textile-making histories( hybridity which is affected by the interconnecting of various disciplines ), and conversations with the community
of practitioners provide reliable traces to enrich this continuous process of mapping a textile tradition’s existence.
“ Fe” converse around the borders of dissemination and inclusion of identities, bodies, and stories of these subaltern communities. Perhaps reclaiming the presence of the past, present, and the futurity of the traditional costume-making process. Wearables exist not just as a beautification enhancer but as a symbolic signifier of reclamation in the narrative of Sri Lanka’s portrayal.