Body & Head exhibition brings Philippine Indigenous blankets and headscarves to Toronto's Textile Museum of Canada

Body & Head, an exhibition of blankets and headscarves from Indigenous and ethnolinguistic communities in the Philippines, opened at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto on 28 October and runs until 11 November, presented with Hibla Philippines and the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto.

Body & Head: Philippine Indigenous Blankets and Headscarves From the 20th Century and Beyond opened at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto on 28 October and runs until 11 November, Frequency reported on 31 October.

The museum says the exhibition, presented in collaboration with Hibla PH and the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto, showcases textile traditions from eight Indigenous and ethnolinguistic communities in the Philippines and explores how clothing and adornment express identity, status and collective memory.

What is on show

• Body: blankets from the Tinguian, Ilocano and Meranaw communities
• Head: headscarves from the Tagabawa-Bagobo, Manobo, Tausug and T'boli peoples

Frequency reported that two Ilocano sinukitan blankets from Paoay, Ilocos Norte, feature the sabong ti parya, or bitter gourd flower, motif framed by an alad, or fence, pattern. According to the exhibition labels, those heirloom designs have been passed down through four generations of one family.

The social enterprise behind it

Hibla Philippines founder Nice Marquez, an anthropologist by profession, set up the organisation during the COVID-19 pandemic as a women-led social enterprise supporting traditional weavers and seamstresses. Frequency reported that it currently works with 14 communities across the Philippines, providing skills development and livelihood opportunities while documenting textile traditions.

“We’re more than the barong, we’re more than the Filipiniana,” Marquez said. “We have so much more to present.”

Marquez said displaying newer pieces alongside older textiles challenges the idea that cultural traditions must remain unchanged. “Tradition also adapts and tradition continues to innovate,” she said. “This is where we came from, but this is where we’re going.”

Workshops and visiting

The exhibition builds on Hibla Philippines' previous collaboration with the Philippine Consulate General. At a binakol weaving workshop in Toronto last year, organisers expected 12 participants but approximately 30 attended, according to Frequency. Marquez said she received positive reports after the opening, with visitors asking questions about the textiles and workshops reaching capacity, and she is scheduled to visit Toronto on 11 November to lead a binakol weaving workshop on the exhibition's final day.

The Textile Museum of Canada is at 55 Centre Avenue in Toronto. Its website lists opening hours of Wednesday to Sunday, 12 PM to 5 PM, with the museum closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

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