Quilting Stories in Karnataka

For over fifteen years, Anitha Reddy, art historian and community-based textile art practitioner, curator and researcher, has been collaborating with the Siddis in Uttara Kannada in the south Indian state of Karnataka to make ‘kavands’ - quilts stitched from worn clothes and fabric that carry familial memory, reminiscence and remembrance in an attempt to reimagine authorship. 

Based in Bangalore, Reddy’s work rejects hierarchies between artist and artisan and treats community, material, nature and process as equal collaborators. Her practice centres on storytelling, environmental care and cultural equity.

 

image Anitha Reddy

‘Siddi’ is an umbrella term used to refer to people of African descent across the Indian states of Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Siddi villages in Karnataka tend to be remote, located in dense forests and often only connected to the main roads by overgrown mud paths. Quilting acts as a connecting thread between these villages. 

“Nearly every Siddi household has at least one multi-coloured kavand, or aspires to own one, either quilted by the women of their own household or by other quilters in the community,” Reddy explains. “Kavands are markers of time in a Siddi household – signifying key life events from the birth of a child or grandchild to the wedding of a daughter, son, niece or nephew. They hold moments of joy and transition, wisdom of the ancestors and blessings of abundance.”

 

Quilts for home use drying in the sun, Tattigara. Image Anitha Reddy

Kavands are used as mattresses in the summer months and as blankets during the monsoon and winter and range in size and design depending on the number of people they can accommodate, as well as who a quilt is made for. Each quilt is unique and is a direct expression of the makers’ individual preference in terms of design, pattern, colour and texture.

“Large villages have a few women, usually in their forties, who function as the quilters for the community and are recognised as masters in their craft,” says Reddy. “These women are also a repository of quilting knowledge and their homes are spaces for other women of the village to gather and learn to quilt. Traditionally, these master quilters are paid for their craft in kind, with areca nuts, grain or fruits and vegetables, but sometimes in cash.”

When Reddy first came across kavands, the intergenerational knowledge required to make them was on the brink of disappearance. “The quilts were mainly made for household use and brought no economic returns,” says Reddy, “and, being made up of multiple layers of sturdy clothing, they were utilitarian and built to last. There was no need for new quilts. Also, the increasing popularity of machine stitching made it quicker and cheaper to stitch a quilt so the process began to be outsourced to men and women from other communities.”

With her background in art history, Reddy saw these the multi-coloured, vividly patterned hand-stitched quilts as the artistic expression of every individual quilter; as much works of art as functional textiles. She also realised that there was an opportunity to keep the craft alive while bringing empowerment to the women, as artists, makers, earners and teachers.

She began to travel to the Siddi villages every month, taking bags of textile scraps and yardage she had sourced for the quilters to use. They had free reign over the materials they chose, the patterns they made, the colours they paired and the pace at which they quilted. Reddy described how the project developed in a blog for the Victoria & Albert Museum.

“Slowly, with each subsequent visit, more women in these villages have begun to come together to quilt, and there has been a resurgence and re-discovery of the house, the courtyard, the veranda as a community space. These spaces are welcoming of women as they gather to quilt, examine textile material, decide on patterns, discuss colours, divide labour and simply work together. More women have made the time to learn quilting and, as a result, what was a slowly petering out tradition has found a revival among the Siddi villages of Northern Karnataka. Today, there is an active quilting community in five villages, and nearly every quilt that a woman makes bring an income to her.

“Gradually, these quilting sessions have allowed me to engage with the women and the women with one another, drawing out stories, talking about community and personal histories, attempting to trace how they first learnt to quilt, trying to use old quilts to trace stories and family lineages. The act of quilting has thus become an act of community art practice and has allowed for the formation of safe spaces for the women.”

 

Siddi Women quilting. Image Anitha Reddy

The quilts that Reddy and the Siddi women of Karnataka have created have also been exhibited across India and beyond. Earlier this year, No ‘One’ Maker: Textiles as Community, curated by Sreyansi Singh, was presented by Inherited Arts Forum at Bikaner House, New Delhi and in 2025, Stitched Lives: Women, Material and the Art of the Handmade was shown at The Festival of Quilts. Her work has also been recognised by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), winning a prestigious award for interdisciplinary documentation of heritage in India.

 

No ‘One’ Maker: Textiles as Community, curated by Sreyansi Singh, presented by Inherited Arts Forum at Bikaner House, New Delhi 2026. Image courtesy Anitha Reddy

“My work with the Siddis has been a long, personal journey; it is not just a project but a relationship that has grown over time,” she says. “The quilts that emerge are not about representation - the women are not subjects of my work; they are makers and collaborators. Decisions emerge through dialogue, the process moves slowly and values repetition, care, disagreement, laughter, shared meals. It values time. The quilts are more than objects of warmth – they are acts of kinship, collective narratives and blessings from a community that has had to navigate belonging, identity and the idea of ‘home’ for generations.”

Come and spend an inspiring afternoon quilting with Anitha as part of the Karnataka extension to our India International Quilt Festival 2027 & a Journey into the Textile Heritage of Southern India.