I was so lucky to visit the Textiel museum in Tilburg, Goirkestraat 96, 5046 GN Tilburg, Netherlands.

I saw the exhibition 'To Dye For' on the last day of the exhibition, beautifully curated and inspiring.

To Dye For

9 April 2022 till 13 November 2022

Textiles come in every colour imaginable. But have you ever wondered what makes your favourite jeans blue? Discover the world of textile dyeing in the exhibition ‘To Dye For’: from the origin of dyes and the stories behind them to their impact on people and the environment.

Yellow, Blue and Red form the starting point of ‘To Dye For’, which features work by artists and (fashion) designers such as Claudy Jongstra, Antonio José Guzman & Iva Jankovic, Nienke Hoogvliet, Aboubakar Fofana and Nan Groot Antink. Spanning centuries and continents, the exhibition provides a glimpse of the beauty and dilemmas of colour in textiles. Learn about the challenges that artisans, artists, designers and scientists have faced over the years as well as the creative solutions they have found. Discover which plants can be used for dyeing in the museum’s Dye Plant Garden.

The story behind Indigo Blue.

Indigo is a natural pigment that can produce different shades of blue in textiles. It has a long history that connects people and places around the world. The dye was once considered extremely valuable, including for its great spiritual power. It was also a precious commodity grown by slaves on plantations in the American colonies.

Artist Antonio José Guzman and textile designer Iva Jankovic explore the colonial history of indigo in a monumental installation of indigo canvases commissioned by the TextielMuseum. The fabrics were embroidered in the TextielLab with symbols from traditional African texts and alphabets, giving new visibility to the African culture that was suppressed by European colonists. The installation was created in collaboration with indigo master Sufiyan Khatri and the experts from the TextielLab.