A silk border carries a city.

First passage

I begin Tamil Nadu with kanchipuram silk. It is a place to start looking at the labour, landscape, memory and changing present that gather around a single thread. A real portrait needs many voices and many return visits. This first passage simply leaves the door open.

This is a first doorway, not a total account of a place. As the archive grows, I will shape these stories with local knowledge, review and full credit to the people in them.