Siddi women stitching a quilt. Photographs by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
Illustrated with photos by Anitha Reddy, Shrey Maurya from the MAP Academy writes about Indian women of African descent who use their quilting heritage to create a textile map of Bangalore for Atlassian.
Like multicoloured mosaics, these unique quilts (kavands) are woven by women of the Siddi community of northern Karnataka. Quilting has been practised by generations of women in nomadic and settled communities across Karnataka, the former including the Jogis, Kilikayathas and Gaundaligas, and the latter comprising the Maratha, Lingayat, Siddi, Gowli, Holega, Madiga, Vokkaliga, Sunagaru, Ganigaru and Oddaru communities, among others.
Siddi woman holding a quilt. Photographs by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
The Siddis are people of African descent who settled in Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra in India over the past five centuries. The communities across these regions do not share a common historical experience or point of origin within Africa, but arrived in India through various channels — as soldiers, personal attendants to traders or slaves on trade ships. Each of these communities was referred to by different names, usually based on their believed point of origin. The presence of the Siddis in northern Karnataka can be traced back to nearly the sixteenth century. Most scholars, as well as older members of the community, believe that they arrived on Portuguese trade ships that plied the Indian Ocean maritime routes connecting the eastern coasts of Africa and Arabia with the western coast of India.
A Siddi quilt mosaic. Photograph by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
The Siddi in Karnataka have largely assimilated local cultures, including religion, dress, food and language, speaking a dialect that is a mixture of Konkani and Marathi, while also being able to converse in Kannada, Urdu and Konkani. The adoption of quilting is one such form of assimilation into local culture and has now been subsumed into the Siddi way of life.
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- A group of Siddi women; Photographs by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
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- Small Siddi quilts. Photographs by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
The quilting begins with a loose vision of the design, but it is not something that must be adhered to; the creative process takes shape as the quilts are stitched. Each quilter’s innate appreciation of colour, as well as the various naturally occurring shapes and motifs in the vicinity, influences the design and pattern that appears on the finished quilt. This is different from many textile traditions of the region, where makers put pen to paper and map finished products before creating them.
A Siddi quilt. Photograph by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
A single quilt is made by stitching together multiple layers of old, used bits of fabric over a base layer, which usually comprises one or two sarees sewn together along their lengths. Each new layer is added to the base using a simple running stitch along the edge where the new layer meets the older layer. The fabric is traditionally sourced from the makers’ families, ensuring that the colours, patterns and textures of the various patches that make up each quilt are unique. Taking weeks to make, the quilts are traditionally built to be durable and easy to repair, and are often passed down from generation to generation.
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- Siddi quilts. Photograph by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
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- Siddi quilts. Photograph by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
Anitha N Reddy, an art historian, curator and designer who has worked with the Siddi quilters for more than a decade, explains: ‘Often, most of the quilts used by households were not made by the women of that family. Each of these villages had one older woman who functioned as the quilter for the community and was recognised as the master of the craft. Her home was a space for other women of the village to gather and learn to quilt. She would be paid for her craft, most often in kind, but sometimes in cash. Now, more women have begun to quilt, and we are slowly helping them to monetise their skills by enabling them to sell to urban markets.’
A tree made from Siddi quilts at the Atlassian India Foundation. Photograph by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
In June 2023, the Atlassian India foundation in Bengaluru, Karnataka, organised ‘Hinged by Fabric’, a collaborative art project between Reddy and Siddi women from Uttara Kannada and Dharwad districts of Karnataka. The project had four components and was constructed using wood and fabric—materials that symbolise both the handmade and the marginalised. The installation sought to bridge the rural-urban divide by physically placing this collective work in a corporate space, bringing into conversation themes of labour, displacement, and women’s invisible contributions.
Anitha N Reddy talks about Siddi quilting at the Atlassian India Foundation.
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- Siddi women at the Atlassian India Foundation; Photographs by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
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- Siddi women in front of a tree made from Siddi quilts at the Atlassian India Foundation. Photographs by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
The installation was especially meaningful because Siddhi women travelled to Bengaluru for the first time, engaging in the making and shaping of the installation. Fabrics were sourced from corporate employees and transformed into memory quilts, which eventually became part of a large textile map of Bangalore. This map itself became a powerful metaphor — the women, many of whom are unschooled and unfamiliar with the geography or script of the city, interpreted and stitched a place they inhabit but remain disconnected from. Their creative labour rendered visible this disconnect, turning it into a powerful statement of presence and belonging.
A Siddi quilt at the Atlassian India Foundation. Photograph by Anitha N Reddy (@anithanreddy).
About the Shrey Maurya
Shrey Maurya (she/her) holds a bachelor’s in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, and a master’s in Visual Art from Ambedkar University, Delhi. She also holds a diploma in South Asian Painting from Jnanapravaha, Mumbai. Her research interests include miniature painting, Buddhist art, handloom textiles, as well as jewellery, perfume and cultures of adornment in the Indian subcontinent. Shrey helped set up the MAP Academy’s Encyclopedia of Art, and is currently responsible for the research and editorial direction of the organisation’s various projects. She is based in Bengaluru.
About Anitha N Reddy
Anitha N Reddy is an art historian and artist. Her intervention looks at Siddi women’s creative agency not as craft in a traditional sense, but as a powerful and expressive form of collaborative contemporary art. Reddy’s work focuses on voice, memory, and reclamation through the act of making. Follow @anithanreddy.
About MAP Academy
The MAP Academy is an open-access online resource focused on South Asian art and cultural histories.
Bibliography
Drewal, Henry John. ‘Soulful stitching: patchwork quilts by Africans (Siddis) of India.’ African arts 46, no. 1 (2013): 6-17.
MacDowell, Marsha, and Olivia Furman. ‘The Black Diaspora Quilt History Project: A Resource for Inclusive Preservation, Research, and Teaching.’ Journal of Folklore and Education 10, no. 1 (2023): 36-45.
