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Saree’s 5,000-year journey celebrated in Bay Area exhibit “Unstitched”
More than 30 contemporary Indian artists transform the traditional garment into a canvas for art.
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Staff Reporter - Wed, 04, Mar 2026
- 11:57 EST
- 6
Exhibition's poster / Handout
A new exhibition exploring the history and cultural significance of the saree will open at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco on March 29, presenting the traditional South Asian garment as a canvas for contemporary art.
Titled “Unstitched: A Celebration of the Saree,” the exhibition features original artworks created directly on sarees by more than 30 contemporary Indian artists. The project is presented in collaboration with EnActe Arts and the Lara Lakshmi Art Foundation.
Also Read: Nauvari saree makes cultural statement at Canadian citizenship ceremony
The exhibition reinterprets the saree, a garment with a documented history of more than 5,000 years in the Indian subcontinent, as a medium for artistic expression, with participating artists exploring the themes of ‘Journey and exile’.
Artists including Seema Kohli, Thota Vaikuntam, Thota Tharani and Laxman Aelay have used the six-yard silk drape as a surface for painting and visual storytelling.
Organizers say the artworks move beyond fashion to explore themes of journey, migration and exile. The saree is presented as what the organizers describe as a “living canvas,” merging textile traditions with contemporary visual art.
“A landmark exhibit that reimagines one of the world’s most enduring cultural forms as a medium for contemporary fine art,” Vara Ramakrishnan, executive director of the Lara Lakshmi Art Foundation, said in a statement.
According to organizers, the exhibition reflects the evolving cultural identity of South Asian communities in the United States, particularly in the Bay Area, where a large diaspora population has contributed to growing interest in South Asian art and cultural programming.
Two preview events are scheduled before the public opening — on March 6 in Los Altos and March 21 in Hillsborough The exhibition will be open to visitors from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on opening day.
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