Kemha: following the silk of the palace

Kemha is a silk brocade woven with gold or silver thread in a raised pattern. Used for the caftans of the Ottoman court, it was made for centuries in workshops in Bursa and Istanbul.

A piece of kemha looks different depending on the light: the pattern shines at one angle and disappears at another. A photograph struggles to hold that. At Perahaus we show the real fabric to a real camera, and change the scene afterwards.

The fabric itself must not change. That is why the cloth, the colour and the stitching stay the same in every image.