Our exhibition - Distant Fellowship explored connections between William Morris and South Asia. The first-floor landing of the gallery featured a reading space designed by Studio Carrom (Nia Thandapani and Priya Sundram) furnished with Kolam, a block-printed pattern designed by Priya and printed by Tharangini Studio in Bangalore. The pattern was based on Morris’ designs and included South Asian elements present in modern Walthamstow, and was developed out of our residency at the gallery in 2019. The fabric was used to create a domestic-style space within the Gallery, where visitors could explore alternative resources around Morris and South Asia in various community languages.

An exhibition guide and alternative guide to the collection drew upon our research during the residency and placed the exhibition in context and in conversation with objects in the collection.

An intervention throughout the gallery placed the work of 8 artists, designers and architects with links to South Asia, within the collection, to explore how their practices connect with and can have a conversation with Morris’s work. In contrast to how South Asian art and design are often presented in British museums as predominantly historic, this intervention brought contemporary work into the gallery space.