Introduction
The 20th century Central Asian robe displayed in Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum, depicts four distinct stories that serve as a storybook for the wearer and its observers. The robe’s origins are believed to come from the general area of Central Asia although it still remains unknown where exactly the textile might have come from because of the similarities in weaving techniques and fashion styles among nomads and settlers along the Silk Roads. Although the robe contains four embroidered stories, I argue that there is a fifth story, hidden within the fibres of the robe: a multi-layered story of exchanges.
Where it began
In Professor Bolintineanu’s course titled, “DHU337: Historical Artifacts in the Digital Age: Books along the Silk Roads”, students were invited to choose an artefact from the Aga Khan Museum’s eponymous exhibit and create a digital storymap to examine its history, related artefacts and our own personal responses to help tell the broader story of the artefact.
The PS24 robe stuck out as an object that could be read as a book worn on the body, one function likely allowing for the sharing of stories with anyone who encountered the wearer of the robe. The mystery of the robe begins with its arrival to the Aga Khan Museum, where Dr. Filiz Çakır Phillip recalled that the robe arrived wrapped and packaged in a Louis Vuitton suitcase from the Aga Khan’s wife (Çakır Phillip 2022). Displayed in the Hidden Stories exhibit during 2021-2022, the 20th century Central Asian robe appears as an almost-modern item, with its structure completely intact. Its mysterious beginning with its appearance at the Aga Khan Museum only encourages the questions of: “where did the robe come from and who wore it?”
However, as tempting as it is to answer these questions, this exhibit will refrain from looking at the robe as a singular object with a singular origin story, and instead, examine the fifth story of the robe: the robe as an object of shared origins. The exhibit will focus on a reflection of conclusions drawn from the symbolic and illustrative nature of the robe, and as well as the preservation tactics that museums instill in their motivation to keep storytelling traditions alive.