Headcloth

For centuries the Sulu Islands in the Southern Philippines have been a center of trade. In the 1800s the most common trade goods imported into the region were textiles from China, India, Java, and Europe. Inspired by this cornucopia of fabrics, the highly skilled Tausug weavers of the Sulu Islands adopted foreign techniques and forms to produce their own remarkable textiles. In the hands of the Tausug, traditional Chinese tapestry weave techniques were adapted to produce designs of kaleidoscopic complexity (pis siyabit). Traditional Islamic headcloths for men, such as this one, can be folded into a wide variety of styles, each emphasizing a different aspect of the complicated geometric patterns in the fabric. These patterns show how carefully the weaver has established symmetry and regularity, then introduced subtle variations. Diamonds, crosses, chevrons, and zigzags—many having multiple stepped borders—crowd together in a dazzling display. Then, just as the mind grasps the pattern, the eyes play a trick, and figure and ground suddenly reverse.