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HYBRID SEMINAR: Trade, politics, geography, and the textiles of Kastellorizo
Venue: Mezzanine level, The Greek Centre, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Live Stream Here: YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Twitter Broadcast
Date: THURSDAY 5 May 2022 @ 7:00pm AEST (Melbourne) | 12:00am EEST (Athens) | 5:00am EDT (New York)
Presenter: Geoffrey Conaghan
Language of Presentation: English | No knowledge of Greek required
Entry: FREE
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Synopsis
In 1925 Amirisa (Hatziagapitou) Askitis migrated to Australia from the island of Kastellorizo, located between Rhodes and Cyprus and now the most eastern community in Greece. She came with her Greek Ottoman wardrobe of around 80 items, which remains a single collection.
Typical of Kastellorizian women, her silks, velvets, brocades, furs, ikats and crepe de chine were from Cyprus, France, Italy, India and Turkey, reflecting Kastellorizo’s levantine location and mercantile economy.
The Kastellorizian women’s costume was colourful: fuchsia, emerald green, pink, yellow and orange, worn with a fur-trimmed velvet overcoat heavily decorated with gold embroidery. Worn layered, ‘fabrics were imported and embellished, providing the impression of rich orientalism’ 1.
Her great grandson Geoffrey Conaghan has researched the origin of the fabrics to build a story of Kastellorizo and the eastern Mediterranean, as told through Amirsa’s wardobe.
Thus the title ‘Entwined - trade, politics and geography’. His research has taken him from the textile markets and museums of Gujarat India to the silk manufacturers of Lyon France.
Entwined also tells the Australian story of migration, community cohesion and the preservation of material culture in an Australian Greek family.
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Bio
Geoffrey Conaghan worked across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, including a member of the executive team for 15 years at Melbourne Airport, Victoria’s Commissioner to India and Victoria’s Agent General to London.
He was a board member of Tourism Victoria for over a decade and a chairman and judge of the Victorian and Australian Tourism Awards. He has been chairman of Linden New Art St Kilda and since 2018 its ambassador for Linden Contemporaries, its donor network.
He now advises on airport business development.
He has a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Anthropology from the Australian National University.
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Sponsors
We thank Dr Andonis Piperoglou and the Kastellorizian Association of Victoria for the kind donations that make seminars like this possible.
During the course of the year considerable expenses are incurred in staging the seminars. In order to mitigate these costs individuals or organisations are invited to donate against a lecture of their choice. You too can donate for one or more seminars and (optionally) let your name or brand be known as a patron of culture to our members, visitors and followers, as well as the broader artistic and cultural community of Melbourne. Please email: info@greekcommunity.com.au or call 03 9662 2722. We thank the following corporate sponsors:
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The Greek Community of Melbourne is registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Non-Profits Commission ABN 14004258360
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