Ms Pashmina Nepal
Chatham Label Mill, North Carolina, 2002
Ms Pashmina Nepal was created with a mannequin fashionably wrapped in Pashmina shawls. A small TV monitor was embedded in her face showing a 3-minute video of the weaving and making of pashmina in Nepal.
A prized possession of Nepali women because of its softness and fine weaving, pashmina shawls are woven from the Himalayan Chyangra goat. In recent years, it has become a novelty item in Europe and North America and a major product for import.
The video shows the various stages of making pashmina shawls. It also calls into question issues related to environmental degradation and human exploitation in this expanding cottage industry. By exhibiting Ms Pashmina Nepal in the Chatham Label Mill, visitors can experience a tradition connected to the fabric-making that once activated this exhibition space.
