Love

We have many stories that explore the value of what we make which extends beyond financial reward.

Heart of Parijat - Ranjith Sivaraman shares his poem inspired by Tanya Dutt's recounting of the romantic myth of the coral jasmine flower.

The Song of the actinomycetes - Priyanka Jain sings about microbes in medieval Indian miniature paintings of a love that is triggered by the smell of rain.

Vivalto Lungo: Espresso bridal jewellery - We ask Annika Karskens about the origins of her jewellery made from coffee pods.

Masters of Craft: Five years later - This Garland podcast explores how the gentrification of trades that developed in the 2010s has fared during the pandemic. It offers a glimpse of a renewed interest in ancient craft practices.

The red candle in China’s “craft of love” - Shaoheng Feng nominates the red candle as a key to the "craft of love" in Chinese culture.

Jodhaa Akbar: A love story tailor-made for today - Lachlan Blain looks behind the sixteenth-century Bollywood blockbuster Jodhaa Akbar and discovers its master storyteller, the veteran costume designer Neeta Lulla.

The power of wedding adornments - Khushbu Mathur itemises the rituals and adornments of a Hindu wedding, showing how love is exchanged through conduits of auspiciousness.

Adil Writer ✿ Clay dreams of love - Adil Writer presents a series of figures that evoke the fraught condition of love for the Parsi community specifically and India generally.

Fishing for future love in Laos - In keeping with the "craft of love" theme, our March laurel goes to a Lao fisherman, discovered by Samorn Sanixay, who crocheted a net for a future wife.

Mata & Grifo: Portals into a Sicilian love story - Antonio Aricò draws on Sicilian heritage to develop bold graphic portals reflecting the tragic romance of Mata & Grifo.

Anbin nimiththam: For the sake of love - Manasee Jog reveals the many games created for Indian brides and grooms to get to know each other.

With the blessing of Gods and families: A Mauritian Tamil wedding - Veemanda Curpen shares the elaborate rituals and shared joy of her brother’s wedding, in full Tamil tradition with a Mauritian twist.

Objects of wealth, power and love: An inquiry into Chettiar material culture - Mitraja Bais remembers her discovery of the lost work of Chettinads and the poignant tale of loved objects left in their wake.

To catch a flower: Love triumphs in the marriage of Sang Thong - Vipoo Srivilasa invokes the romantic tale of Sang Thong to celebrate a love that breaks through social barriers and Edward Colless heralds "animated, capricious sprites and bristling bouquets".

Never on Tuesdays: How the Padma Saliyar weave auspiciousness into wedding saris - Aarti Kawlra explains the painstaking efforts of the Tamil weaving caste, Padma Saliyars, to heighten auspiciousness in their wedding saris.

Love in a time of colonisation - Ceramic artist Shirley Bhatnagar gives form to tales of romantic love in Indian history. 

Sundar Sari: A reverie of past loves - As part of Border&Fall’s exploration of the sari as a form of embodied culture, Pooja Kaul has produced a poetic film, Sundar Sari, that reflects the way this garment holds memories.

Khushbu Mathur ✿ Sowing seeds of friendship between sister and brother - A new member of the Garland team writes about the seed rakhi, which helps shares the love between brother and sister with mother nature.

How much has your year been worth? Bridget Kennedy exhibition - Our Love and Money issue identified the importance of non-monetary value in what we make. One of the themes emerging from the Garland journey is the value of labour in its own terms, not only as an expression of love but also as a way of thinking and being together.

Loved up? A review of Love: Art of Emotion 1400-1800 - Inga Walton takes us on a walk through the National Gallery of Victoria exhibition Love: The Art of Emotion 1400-1800. She finds works that testify to the creative power of love, but asks at the same time how dependent this is on the money necessary to show it.

And on the other hand:

Masters of Craft: Five years later - This Garland podcast explores how the gentrification of trades that developed in the 2010s has fared during the pandemic. It offers a glimpse of a renewed interest in ancient craft practices.

Review of A Cultural Economic Analysis of Craft - A new book on craft is an excellent resource for those working in cultural policy across the wider world.

The worldly currency of Abdullah Syed - Zoe Ghani visits the Pakistani-born Sydney artist Abdullah Syed whose work uses currencies to weave together distant homes.

Women’s Wealth Project: Biruko and Tuhu hoods - Sana Balai and Ruth McDougall write about the precious fibre objects, biruku and tuhu hoods, that arose from a series of workshops in Bougainville and Solomon Islands.

Sustainable housing for artists and creatives: A new cooperative model in Fremantle - Koral Ward reports the inspiring new model to support Fremantle's artistic community.

The quest for hi-fi design - Garland interviews Lou Weis, creative director of Broached Commissions, about his core vision for high fidelity in design and how he uses the market to achieve this.

Hipster capitalism explained - While researching current thinking about the role of money in making, Garland came across a provocative article "Hipster capitalism" that contextualises the revival of trades as art.

Devalued Currencies, Metaphorical Tapestries: “Yaw Owusu – All That Glitters” - Seen from afar, Yaw Owusu's artworks look like pleasantly eye-catching geometrical tapestries made with a sort of glittery paint.

Jewellery for free - Vicki Mason discovers the power of jewellery as a currency to connect strangers together. She writes about her Broaching Change project and jewellery ventures done for love.

What Daniel Blake won’t sell - Ken Loache's film, I, Daniel Blake, depicts the struggle for dignity in the face of inhuman bureaucracy. In one rearguard gesture, Daniel Blake refuses to sell an object he has handmade for a neighbour's boy.

For love or money? – A call for works - What happens when an artwork is specified as “Not for Sale”? What are the reasons for refusing to exchange the work for money? Our June #7 issue we will consider not just what we make, but also why we make. Do we make to put bread on the table every day, with the prospect of fortune sometime in the future? Can we treat seriously something that is made with no economic value? In this issue, we reflect on a number of trends that question the purely monetary purpose of making, including creative commons (3D printing), a mobile millennium generation, automation, post-capitalism and indigenous revival of customary values. In a world where worth is increasingly measured by the dollar, we want […]