Handicrafts of South Asia: A Reflection

Output from the 2025 Talent Match placement with researcher Hiba Khan and the Library. Handicrafts of South Asia: A Reflection is a personal research project which explores the heritage and research themes of the author.

Hello there! I'm Hiba, a Creative Writing Master's student with a history of Graphic Design. I've grown up all around the world, which is partially why I am so enthused to share about culture and art from the places I've been but also the ones I never have. As an artist, designer, writer, a craftsperson who explores all forms of creativity, the arts have always been a way to demonstrating my experiences and, in more recent years, a method of sharing culture and histories. It should be highlighted that there are countless fields within the arts and they may be distinguished from craft – generally, when using the term “art” we refer to flat visuals (like paintings or prints) but also to sculptures made for display. The term “craft” encompasses the more tangible and material-heavy methods, such as ceramics, woodwork, metalwork and textiles, which in of itself can include embroidery, dyeing, even crocheting. It is generally understood in the wider public sphere that art is something we revere and gaze at with awe, whereas crafts are hobbies we use to pass the time and "cute" little side-projects. And now, with the rise of generative AI, even art is seen as a silly thing to pursue, leading to already-undervalued artisans becoming even more ignored. Elitism poisons everything it touches, and because of it, some people simply do not understand the delight of creating by hand, of art and craft as respective fields, of creativity as a whole.

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