The traditional gamchha asks the Zebra Question — is it a red cloth with white checks or a white cloth with red checks? Is it a turban in a towel sometimes or a towel and a turban all the time? American poet Shel Silverstein’s poem affords multiplicities and an exhibition on India’s ubiquitous garment, the gamchha, does just that.

At the National Crafts Museum and Hastkala Academy in Bharat Mandapam, the show ‘Gamchha: From the Extraordinary in the Ordinary’ — presented by Dastkari Haat Samiti — showcases the country’s regional diversities in fabric as much as it presents the wealth of symbolism and craft.

With over 250 gamchhas from 14 states across India, the exhibition honours the chequered fabric and the ordinary men and women who drape them — the farm hand in the field, the mason who lays the brick wall, the fishermen who bring in the fruits of the sea, the labourer carrying his load, the young man on his bike, the lady carrying her baby to work, and the old man who has stepped into the water for a dip, among others.

The simple and coarse cloth, barely 70 inches x 35 inches, woven from leftover yarn, is what most of India uses to wipe its sweat, steam and grime of daily living. The exhibition is an ode to this toil and tradition.

Curated and designed by architect Suparana Bhalla of Abaxial Design Private Limited, gamchhas are displayed on latticed bamboo and steel frames at the exhibition, alluding to their strength and resilience all at once.

“As architects, we examined the fabric’s inherent form — its ability to twist and turn and become a multitude of things. We have also explored idioms around the gamchha. For instance, going back to Bengal’s great famine, there’s a saying — ‘if you are hungry, wet your gamchha and tie it around your waist’. The exhibition is an ode to toil, in our ability to work hard and to appreciate those who do,” says Suparna.

That celebration manifests in origami designer and artist Ankon Mitra’s installation of the gamchha that folds and wrinkles across the Yoga Gallery of the Crafts Museum in shades of red and white.

President-founder of the Samiti, Jaya Jaitly’s own exploration with the cloth began nearly a decade ago, when women weavers at Phulia in West Bengal were commissioned to create gamchha saris.

“For this show, we have created a culture history of the fabric, which appear as photos, snippets and video projections that present the closeness of the fabric to people’s cultural life, their social rituals and ceremonies. It is also an indication of how each culture feeds from the proximity of their next state or its own ethic history. People want to make their lives beautiful amidst the drudgery of work and labour. The colourful gamchha becomes their companion — that emotional connect with home and family,” says Jaya.

The exhibition, which closes on March 10, also has live demonstrations by craftspeople and gamchha-inspired textiles, besides accessories and lifestyle products.