Gallery Talk at YUAG - Southeast & South Asian Studies

The Yale University Art Gallery holds almost 300,000 works of art, tens of thousands of which are from South and Southeast Asia. In this talk, Ruth Barnes, Thomas Jaffe Curator of Indo-Pacific Art and Arielle Winnik, Donna Torrance Assistant Curator of Indo-Pacific Art discuss how objects in museum collections serve as scholarly archives.

The talk will take place in Nusantara: Six Centuries of Indonesian Textiles, a sweeping exhibition that celebrates the elaborate textile heritage of Indonesia and explores the ancient interisland links found in this vast maritime region. In maritime Southeast Asia, textiles are not just artistic creations but serve an important role in ceremonies and rituals. They also embody gender roles and social status, reflecting the wearer’s identity and heritage. Indonesia has historically been at the crossroads of major trade routes, resulting in a blend of Indigenous and foreign influences. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Indonesian textiles began to show the Influence of Indian designs. The exhibition includes over 100 textiles from the 14th to the 20thcentury that are drawn from the gallery's holdings. Central to the Gallery’s Department of Indo-Pacific Art, the textile collection boasts approximately 1,200 examples from Indonesia and Sarawak (Malaysia).