Zarah Hussain returns to launch Barnaby Festival

Renowned artist Zarah Hussain returns home to launch Barnaby Festival at The Silk Museum with an exhibition of her work entitled Invisible Threads

Invisible Threads will run at The Silk Museum, 16 June – 22 September

Free admission during Barnaby Festival, every day Saturday 16 June – Saturday 23 June.

Macclesfield-born artist Zarah Hussain has created a new light sculpture, Invisible Threads, commissioned for the Barnaby Festival.

Many items in The Silk Museum’s collection illustrate the connections between Macclesfield’s silk industry and India, and last year’s Inspired by Indiaexhibition celebrated the design influences reflected in the work of Macclesfield School of Art students. For the Barnaby Festival, a newly-commissioned artwork will further explore and celebrate these links.

Zarah Hussain’s distinctive colourful artwork combines painting and hand-drawn Islamic geometry with high tech digital art, animations and even interactive apps. She has won acclaim with high-profile exhibitions and numerous commissions; the Barnaby Festival is the perfect opportunity to showcase her exciting work.

Invisible Threads is a fusion of Zarah’s Indian heritage and Macclesfield roots. Her Kashmiri grandfather emigrated to Macclesfield to work in textiles; her parents also worked in the trade, her mother adding fringe to silk scarves. The “invisible threads” linking her family and Macclesfield’s silk industry with India have inspired her piece.

Zarah has created an immersive installation made of 3D shapes and programmable LED lights with multiple colourways. Visitors will enter a darkened room to experience the almost hypnotic changing patterns of light and colour.

Invisible Threadswill launch the Barnaby Festival in a special event on Friday 15 June, then the exhibition opens to the public on Saturday 16 June.

The exhibition is free to visit during the Barnaby Festival (every day from Saturday 16 to Saturday 23 June, including Sunday 17 June); charges apply to visit the rest of The Silk Museum (children free).

From Monday 25 June to Saturday, admission will be included in the entry price to The Silk Museum (£4.50/£4 concessions/children free), or you can visit just the Special Exhibition for £2 (children free)

Another special exhibition will be on show at The Silk Museum linked to the Barnaby Festival: Paterson, New Jersey – ‘The Macclesfield of America’ The Silk Museum, 9 June – 22 September 2018.

The centre of America’s silk industry, Paterson, New Jersey is known as ‘Silk City USA’. As part of this year’s Barnaby Festival, tying directly in with the theme of Routes/Roots, The Silk Museum on Park Lane will be hosting an exhibition highlighting the close historic ties between Macclesfield and Paterson, and those who made the journey to start a new life there.

The silk industry in Paterson was founded by a Bollington man, John Ryle, whose older brothers ran a successful silk mill in Macclesfield. In 1839, Ryle sailed to America and within a few years had his own mill in Paterson. His success led to others from Macclesfield moving to Paterson to open mills there and by the 1870s business was booming, as opposed to Macclesfield where it was on the decline. Hundreds of families emigrated there to continue working in the silk industry.

The Silk Museum is open Monday-Saturday, 10am-4pm. Admission to the Paterson exhibition is free, admission charges apply if you wish to visit the rest of the museum.