Traditional arts

Woman in a white dress standing in front of a geometric quilt in a garden setting with trees in the background.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

Beauty is woven into everyday life for the quilters of the American West

A film by Carly Jakins and Jared Jakins

Medieval painting of three musicians playing instruments, seated under arches with colourful robes and curly hair.
MUSIC

Courtly love songs are a window into medieval sex lives

Song lyrics acted as a sexual script for aristocrats, revealing some edgy practices that ignited their imaginations

by Elizabeth Eva Leach

A knitted grey toy mouse holds a needle and repairs its own dress. Three balls of yarn lie nearby, alongside a small blue open book.
PLEASURES AND PASTIMES

A whimsical ode to the reparative power of knitting, rendered in wool

Directed by Samantha Moore

A dancer in traditional Indian dress performs on stage against a black background
DANCE

Bharathanatyam dance is a living exploration of being human

With its origins in 16th-century India, Bharathanatyam remains hugely popular. Here’s a primer to kickstart your enjoyment

by Lakshmi Thiagarajan

Illustration of cupped hands holding a golden artefact with intricate patterns against a textured background.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

A Bronze Age pendant links lives centuries apart in this wondrous short

Directed by Samantha Moore

Ancient petroglyph depicting a human-like figure with outstretched arms and legs, etched onto a brown, weathered rock surface.
SACRED PLACES

Explore the rugged beauty of Nine Mile Canyon, the world’s longest art gallery

Directed by Dane Christensen

Two people wearing white jackets stand on a snowy landscape under an overcast sky, surrounded by snow-covered mounds.
MUSIC

Witness the cool musical game played by Inuit women for centuries

Directed by Eva Kaukai and Manon Chamberland

Black and white photo of a woman holding a cat in a kitchen while a child eats at the table.
FOOD AND DRINK

La cucina povera delivers the fare we need to sustain us now

La cucina povera made do with whatever was available in nonna’s kitchen garden, and remains the perfect fare for our times

by Louise Fabiani

Colourful patchwork quilt hanging outside near leafless tree and house, showcasing various patterns and colours.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

A trip to Gee’s Bend, Alabama, where masterpieces hang from clotheslines

Directed by Maris Curran

A film still showing the Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak and her husband Johnniebo in fur-trimmed clothing, smiling and looking off camera.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

An Inuit artist reflects on the mysteries of artistic inspiration in this 1963 short

Directed by John Feeney

A person in traditional clothing embroiders a yellow fabric on a table outdoors, with assorted yarn and tools beside them.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

Here’s to handiwork! A celebration of craft as a universal language

Directed by Donald Winkler

An old, weathered boat hull is grounded in a field with two bare trees under a cloudy sky.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

Scottish Gaelic songs send a message in a bottle across the oceans of time

Directed by Jamie Chambers

Man in an orange jacket carrying planks stands in a dense forest next to large colourful buoys and scattered debris.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

Items swallowed in Japan’s tsunami form a unique memorial an ocean away

Directed by John Bolton

Colourful pointillistic painting of four figures in patterned clothing on a landscape with trees, likely representing rural life.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

A joyously animated myth retells why painting is prayer to India’s Bhil people

A film by Nina Sabnani and Sher Singh Bhil

Photo of a person with a guitar leaning on a car in a forest with bright red foliage wearing a white shirt and hat.
MUSIC

Bob Dylan turned American folk traditions into modern prophecy

Bob Dylan’s ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’ is the first truly modernist folk song: it reworks tradition into a prophetic warning

by Timothy Hampton

A dancer in a black dress and red sash dances in front of a guitarist seated on a chair, in a studio with mirrors and plants.
MUSIC

La vida flamenca – why art and daily life are inseparable for a flamenco guitarist

Directed by Pedro Kos and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee