KNOT ABLE

A disable person discovers how to do a knot by crossing her arms.

Post in ITALIAN

Fashion Rags, shawl

Summer shawl made in Italy. Unique piece by a contemporary hand weaver. I myself woven this scarf by an old country loom and with fashion threads. I inserted rags of fashion cloth in the weft. Fashion cloth by Bonotto. Research project of Faculty of Weaving.



You may support the faculty of weaving buying online one shawl. PLS visit my Etsy Shop

Textilight 3

My third work of "textile light", in TessereArte exhibition, Agheiro Arte Contemporanea, Lavagna 2008. See also on:
my old website

Dale Massiasta, i funerali

godwin azameti
death announcement
kindly post the ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE death of my beloved Big brother Dale Massiasta, the Director of the Blakhud Research Centre Klikor online for our numerous friends worldwide to see the BURIAL AND FUNERAL RITES WILL BE ON THE SATURDAY 12TH, JANUARY,
2007at Klikor in the Volta Region of Ghana.

funeral arrangement are as follows:
friday 11th january 2008 is the Wake keeping,
Saturday, 12th January 2008, burial and funeral rites,
Monday 13th, January 2008, Family Gathering and Thanks-Giving Service.

E' morto Dale Massiasta, grande tessitore, scrittore e direttore del Blakhud Research Centre.
i funerali avverranno sabato 12 gennaio a Klikor, in Ghana.

Fili Spaziali

ENGLISH VERSION in Video Description
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Il protagonista del video precedente "Ricamo Solare", continua ad esplorare i labirinti dello spazio con le mani e con la guida del filo. Lui che aveva già affrontato la superficie, adesso è alle prese con il volume. Non c'è più un operatore oltre la rete, che gli restituisca il filo come una palla da tennis, ora deve arrangiarsi da solo.
Anche se non riesce a muoversi bene, lui è un tipo davvero intelligente e pone domande precise. Nell'esercizio precedente, mi aveva domandato: "Quale lavoro stiamo facendo?" Gli avevo risposto che facevamo un quadro. Questa volta ho risposto alla stessa domanda più sinceramente. Non gli ho detto che stavamo facendo una scultura. Gli ho detto che, con questo lavoro, forse avrebbe imparato a mettersi le dita nel naso. Si è messo a ridere e si è impegnato moltissimo. La casetta che abbiamo utilizzato per questo esercizio era semplicemente un vecchio modellino per la nostra Casa dell'Omo Ragno ...
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Kente inedito

ENGLISH ABSTRACT
1- An amazing nyonuvo, the Kente female cloth, in the Afi art gallery of Accra.
>>> Ewe Kente Symbols
>>> Klicor Icon
2- The sample album of Mensah Azumah from Anlo-Afiadenyigba (Keta District). Ewe Kente weaver since 1979.
>>> Afevo
3- Very Important Fashion Models
>>> Adzimakli Designer

1- Uno splendido pezzo di nyunuvo (veste femminile) con figure, fotografato nella galleria Afi di Accra, Ghana 2005.


>>> PHOTO ALBUM

2- Il prezioso album dei campioni di Mensah Azumah, tessitore kente Ewe attivo dal 1979, originario di Anlo-Afiadenyigba (Keta District).


>>> PHOTO ALBUM

3- Modelli VIP posano indossando kente in stile Yoruba.


>>> PHOTO ALBUM

>>> Altre foto di ambiente dal Ghana

Weaving is NOT what you think it is

>>> VERSIONE ITALIANA

My paper for:
Jacquard loom in contemporary textile art and education
International Symposium
Fondazione Lisio Arte della Seta
Firenze 19 - 24 Luglio 2007

There are more things in looms and fiber, Horatio
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Almost Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I

Even in the most serious Shakespearian plays, a clown may come on stage. Such an illustrious precedent justifies my participation in this undoubtedly serious conference. I will try to draw your attention to the “ignoble” (i.e. “non-noble”) origins of textile design through modern technology and to the mix-up between painting and weaving. I rely on my thirty-years of experience as a hand weaver, on the art history, on a handful of psycho-physiological data and on some tribal rugs on which not only I rely but I also lie on with pleasure. My contribution may be concentrated into three points:
1-Weaving is NOT what you think it is
2-Weaving is what you do NOT think it is
3-There is NO thought without weaving
I will support these arguments by having recourse, eventually, to one famous devil’s advocate, that is, Mephistopheles.

My blog opens with the following phrase: “I am a weaver but it's not what you think it is”. So I resort not only to Shakespeare to justify myself but also to the classic excuse of the husband who has just been caught in bed with another woman:” Don’t worry, darling. It’s not what you think”. What a poor excuse! In my case , it’s quite true…..but not only in my case, fortunately! Certain weaving is really not what you think it is: it is not traditional craftwork nor art. The term “Art” has uncertain and historically variable meanings. For example, in Italy weaving is still considered a decorative or applied art and this implies the existence of other art forms, fine arts to be precise. Of course, Italian fiber art aspires to be admitted to the fine arts “club” with all the advantages offered. Frankly speaking, I might have been interested myself: as there were no teaching posts available, I’ve had to create a specific “Faculty of Weaving”. You can imagine how tiring it is to be the dean….!

Getting back to that phrase on my blog, I was talking about art in general. In fact, the most frequent compliment I receive is: “Your work is art, not craftwork!”. Art…what does it mean? Its most common meaning is: “the expression of an inspired drawing through “artistic” techniques”. So, there is an inspiration that takes the form of a drawing . The artist transfers this mental drawing to paper and transforms it into a work of art through the (artistic) techniques at his/her disposal.

On the contrary, certain weaving is what you do NOT think it is. The thought is there, it is ineliminable but also inessential: weaving/art is always somewhere else. Where? In the concrete act of weaving. There is no weaving without threads, just like there is no music without sounds (2). If the spirit resides out of bodies and matter, these are simply dead. A mystic? An animistic? Perhaps, but I am in good company, with humble and simple weavers.
Give a look at these Moroccan rugs, woven in the tribal area of Boujad. Don’t waste your time by searching for symbols or meanings. As said above, these are inessential. Many researchers have tried and have come to the conclusion that there are symbols in traditional weaving but they are unconscious. That is to say, weavers unconsciously follow predetermined drawings, exactly as spiders do. By the way, have you ever seen two perfectly identical spiderwebs?

It now remains to distinguish between shape and shaping. A shape is a drawing in space, a symbol, an icon. An example of shape is a roadsign consisting of a red-rimmed white triangle bisected by a black stripe which means “danger, be careful”. Shaping is instead a process, an operation, an action taking place in Time. A rug weaver ties knots, one after another in a row along the weft. Then he ties the knots on the following wefts until he fills up the whole fabric. A knot is like a point, a row of knots a line and the whole rug, a surface. We can thus analyse the rug from a geometric point of view, identifying, classifying and taking a census of every shape existing on a territory and occupying a space. What about shaping in time? Is it the mere manual labour of weaving? I believe not.

Every knot marks a point. It is a colored exclamation mark destined to become a question mark compared to the upper row of knots. This colored mark can be isolated or ignored or become the founder of a new lineage along the warp. Or instead it can generate two divergent lineages that will unite again in another weft. That is how we obtain a rhomb. The mother vagina of the great goddess? Very well, then…let’s not talk about it anymore. However, personally speaking, I’m more excited by the pile: chromatic molecules that aggregate and separate in the manual process of shaping. Chaos? Improvisation? Or rather, gestures in syntony with instruments and material. Or instead, psycho-physiological interaction between the Subject and the World. If artistic creation exists, it is here, rather than inside a thought designing an abstract shape.

Even the most spiritual inspiration, the most intellectual and modern thoughts are descended from manual gestures, the ancestral gestures of the first weavers or basketmakers. They still are the structural elements of our neural fibers and system, including syntactic structure and logical connections. Psycho-physiologists demonstrate that every creative act taking place within our cerebral cortex is accompanied by a micro-gesture of our body. For example: we cannot picture a galloping horse without moving our eyes (3). Maybe one day we will be able to analyse the micro-gestures of a philosopher while lecturing or Wittgenstein’s gesticulation during his famous performances at home. Consequently, hand-weaving is good for not only the mentally disabled but also for the Computer Assisted Designer. It is not only a technical experience (which would prevent many technical mistakes), but also art. It would be good for philosophers as unfortunately university teaching staff have no textile experience. The Western school system is not like the Ewe people’s, for whom weaving is a compulsory subject: His Majesty Togbui Addo VIII is a mathematician from Oxford University but his subjects admire him for his weaving skills (5).

And those Moroccan rugs? Besides all the symbols and meanings, they represent an abstract art form, that is, concrete weaving. Aren’t they beautiful enough? The true rug expert is the souk shopkeeper. He cannot extol a rug's knot density, precious wool or dyeing: these rugs are quite poor, rags are used to make the weft. So he will merely say that the rugs are works of modern art: “Regardez: un tableau de Picasso!”. Actually, there are so many precious collections.

Not only textile researchers have developed an obsession about symbols: many professors share this same bad habit. It is called iconology and derives from the supremacy that painting has always had over all other art forms, in particular over weaving. Weavers have been regarded as copiers (at best) of the creative design by the “true” artist, that, is, the painter. Our reputation has been damaged by the Renaissance and not only ours: it damaged art and life in general (6). Luckily, neither Boujad nor Islamic art were influenced by the Renaissance. But they are Berbers….in short, barbarians.
We civilized people, instead, want to know the artist’s intent, the painting’s meaning. I once met an art teacher who never went beyond the Impressionist movement because, after that, he found no more figures having a meaning. Nonetheless, he became a councillor in charge of cultural activities and then, as a mayor, he had to inaugurate a contemporary art park: the Giardino di Daniel Spoerri. However, that Giardino is as full of meanings as a Rorschach’s blot.

In conclusion, they have searched so long for meanings that, in the end, they convinced some artists to create a meaning without wasting too much time on the work of art. Even artists have to get by and art gallery owners as well. This is the famous conceptual art in which the most important thing is the artist’s “Concept”.
We began with Shape and Meaning, we proceeded to the Concept, from which we return to textile arts. The term 'concept' has gynaecologic roots: to conceive, conceived, conception. It seems a bit strange that female fiber artists have devoted themselves to conceptual art. Especially those who claimed textile art’s ancestral femininity. Actually, they wanted to do the contrary: they wished to procreate in an immaterial way, just like the intellectuals have always done, following a male and bachelor tradition. Academic culture has clerical origins. Only one century has gone by since members of Oxford have been allowed to get married. That is why bachelor means both a graduate and an unmarried man. So, firstly clergymen and alchemists, then academicians and scientists have pursued a male “Immaculate Conception”, an inveterate misogynous desire (7). In brief, fiber art gave life to the off-loom (weaving fibers without a loom) and then to the off-fiber (fiber art without fibers).

However, man cannot live on concepts alone: even the Portrait wants its share: of course, its share of conceptual art. In fact, today there is no need to use a brush to depict the soul of a face, nor to frame it. Not even jacquard weaving requires a draft anymore. You just need a photo and a Photoshop program. The design is woven on an electronic loom. But doesn’t a loom, tribal or jacquard, have a body (or soul of its own) ? Shouldn’t it express it with each and every fiber? As Shakespeare has it: “There are more things in looms and fiber than are dreamt of in your philosophy”. Furthermore I would like to say, and without copying the original text this time: let’s never forget the textile origins of that same philosophy.

Mephistopheles
In truth the subtle web of thought
Is like the weaver's fabric wrought:
One treadle moves a thousand lines,
Swift dart the shuttles to and fro,
Unseen the threads together flow,
A thousand knots one stroke combines
Then forward steps your sage to show
And prove to you, it must be so;
The first being so, and so the second,
The third and fourth deduc'd we see;
And if there were no first and second,
Nor third nor fourth would ever be.
This, scholars of all countries prize,--
Yet 'mong themselves no weavers rise.
(Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, Act I) (8)
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1) http://lucianoghersi.blogspot.com
2) Vezio Ruggieri, "L'esperienza estetica: Fondamenti psicofisiologici di un'educazione estetica". 1997.
3)Vezio Ruggieri, "The running horse stops: the hypothetical role of the eyes in imagery of movement". In "Perceptual and motor skills." 1999. In: "L'identità in psicologia e teatro. Analisi psicofisiologica della struttura dell'io." Second reprint 2005.
4) LG, "La tessitura o del ritrovare se stessi", in Arti Terapie (June 2006, Rome)
Silvia Micocci, "la tessitura a mano in una prospettiva arteterapeutica", "tessereAmano, October 2002"
5) LG "Piedi che aprono, mani che battono" "Jacquard" 47/2001
6) Mario Perniola, "L'alienazione artistica. 1971.
7) David F. Noble, "A World Without Women: The Christian Clerical Culture of Western Science". 1992.
8) "The subtle web of thought", in the first line, is an incorrect translation of the German "der Gedankenfabrik". "Fabrik" is a false friend of fabric" but it means "factory". So "thought factory" and without "subtle".

>>> VERSIONE ITALIANA

dal corso Lisio di Afro Telaio

ENGLISH ABSTRACT
Image of the course of Kente weaving at Fondazione Lisio in Florence.
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Qualche immagine dal corso di Afro Telaio (di tradizione Kente Ewe) in Fondazione Lisio a Firenze.
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Il signore che nel video corre avanti e indietro, sta preparando un ordito. Quell'altro signore al telaio è Jean Burkel, appassionato studioso delle tecniche tessili persiane e oggi autore del volume "Tapis d'iran, tissages et techniques d'aujourd'hui" (Les Editions de l'Amateur, Paris 2007).
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Pur detestando i sofisticati disegni si questi tappeti persiani, apprezzo moltissimo il lavoro di Burkel perché ci ha dato un libro sui tappeti che approfondisce gli aspetti tecnici della tessitura, più che a quelli meramente iconografici e attributivi. Durante il nostro corso, Burkel, ha provato a riprodurre sul telaio africano le complesse armature del tappeto Zilou di Isfahan.
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In effetti, il telaio africano è uno strumento tradizionale che è pure atto ad usi didattici e sperimentali estranei alla sua tradizione, come il kilim e l'arazzo, ad esempio. La tradizione è puramente ciò che è stato trasmesso, perciò resta comunque importante celebrare i Maestri del kente con le usuali libagioni all'inizio di qualsiasi lavoro, anche del tessuto più sperimentale. Come il pezzo qui sotto, tessuto con inserti in gomma magnetica e di conseguenza, semplicemente appoggiato a due putrelle di ferro.


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>>> PIU' IMMAGINI

Tubo Stuoia - Pipe Screen

Tessere a mano ma tessere a piedi

ENGLISH ABSTRACT
footloom V/S handloom.
A loom equipped with two pedals is highly suitabe for disabled people: the evolution of human ability sprang mostly from the feet! Unfortunately, such looms are rarely found in rehabilitation centres.
I developed the ugly techology of a table loom by two cabinet doors, that are now working as large and comfortable pedals. I also recycled some pieces of another ugly table loom, as gallows for a hanging warp. So that, I assembled a sort of drag loom. Removing the warp beam, its complex brake system was also removed. The "doughnut" warp is a heritage of Kente weaving.



L'evoluzione dell'abilità umana è basata sui piedi. Senza questo sviluppo dei piedi, che sono indispensabili per la postura e locomozione erette, le mani non avrebbero potuto dedicarsi a quelle infinite esplorazioni gestuali, che infine coinvolgono oggi una così vasta area di corteccia cerebrale.
Tra l'altro, senza postura eretta sui piedi, la scatola cranica non avrebbe raggiunto un volume atto a contenere lo sviluppo cerebrale che era indotto dalle attività manuali: nel cranio di un quadrupede non resta troppo spazio per il cervello, ma già nel il quadrimane si inizia a ragionare. (Vedi André Leroi-Gourhan).
I creazionisti non sarebbero d'accordo ma anche per loro la Storia comincia con la cacciata fuori dal Parco: camminare, lavorare, e basta di mangiare la frutta sugli alberi!
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Anche se l'abilità umana, preistoricamente, si basa sui piedi, oggi poca attenzione viene loro rivolta nelle attività educative e (ri)abilitative. Ciò ha un motivo di fondo assai banale: gli Educatori sono abilitati (soprattutto legalmente) in apposite scuole, dove prevalgono le attività a tavolino. E i piedi non si mettono sul tavolo, se non per mancanza assoluta di educazione. Così i piedi restesteranno "ineducati".
Ecco spiegato finalmente perché un semplice telaio a due pedali dovrebbe essere lo strumento principe nella tessitura (ri)abilitativa: perché ci si possono mettere i piedi (vedi anche: Tappeti...).
Sfortunatamente, telai di questo genere sono raramente disponibli negli appositi Centri. Tale carenza non è imputabile a carenza di fondi, quanto piuttosto all'acquisto sconsiderato di attrezzature scolastiche e hobbistiche, che raramente si trovano a buon mercato. Ma un telaio a pedali rudimentale si può anche costruire con pezzi di fortuna (vedi Telai di recupero ).
A parte questa opzione, il problema è che, oltre agli Educatori, pure gli Istruttori di tessitura risentono in genere pesantemente di una qualche formazione scolastica: nelle sezioni tessili negli Istituti d'Arte o presso Professori privati. In tali ambienti, la tessitura si impara a tavolino, soprattutto progettando e disegnando. Oppure campionando tessuti ma su telaini da tavolo... dove altrettanto non vanno messi i piedi (vedi in: Operatori e Operati Sociali).
Tra parentesi, ecco un ottimo motivo per istituire la Facoltà di Tessere: la situazione era piuttosto grave!
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Qui nel video. c'è un ex telaio da tavolo, debitamente inventariato ASL. In effetti, poi ci avevano aggiunto le gambe ma restava comunque un telaio da tavolo, senza un posto dove mettere i piedi: era solo diventato un telaio-tavolo, nulla di più. Lo ho trasformato in telaio a pedali utilizzando i due sportelli di un mobiletto, cardini compresi. Questi sportelli offrono ai piedi una base di appoggio molto più larga dei comuni pedali. Ciò avvantaggia di molto anche i piedi più disabili o ineducati.
Era superfluo aggiungere altri pedali per ottenere armature più complesse della semplice tela: ciò che importava qui era istigare a bilanciare i piedi: uno deve scendere mentre quell'altro sale, proprio come in bici.
Tra parentesi, pure la bicicletta sarebbe un ottimo strumento (ri)abilitativo, nonostante che il Lombroso la consideri un'istigazione a delinquere (vedi Il ciclismo nel delitto). Del resto, un disabile ciclabile diverrebbe un soggetto meno controllabile... e date le questioni di Contenimento chi vuole esagerare con l'Autonomia? Chiusa la parentesi.
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Per ristrutturare questo telaio-tavolo, ho pure riciclato, con sommo piacere, qualche pezzo di un Telaio Romanelli, uno di quelli famigerati, dove i licci si alzavano tirando una serie di sciacquoni (le vittime di questo marchingegno qui mi capiranno al volo). Con i pezzi così rimediati, ho elevato una specie di patibolo sopra il subbio di ordito. A quel patibolo ci impicco l'ordito, che ho predisposto a ciambella esattamente come lo Avotsihe dei tessitori Kente.
Così mi risparmio di avvolgere l'ordito al suo vecchio subbio e anche di imporre al Disabile di armeggiare tra i freni dei due subbi per fare avanzare l'ordito (ma né troppo né troppo poco) e per rimetterlo di nuovo in tensione (ma non troppo e nemmeno troppo poco). Qui i più si comportavano ancor più da Disabili, per non doversi assumere la complessa operazione.
Per cui, d'abitudine, o chiamavano me oppure continuavano a tessere, sempre più penosamente, su su fino ai denti del pettine, con la bocca dell'ordito quasi chiusa. Invece, quest'ordito acciambellato si frena in alcun subbio ma è semplicemente tenuto in costante tensione con una pietra appesa per zavorra. Anche quest'ultima è d'ispirazione Kente: è difficile inventare coi telai, specialmente a chi ricerchi la semplicità.
Naturalmente, poi mi si viene a chiedere se con questo telaio, non fosse possibile tessere una striscia un po' più larga . Certamente sarebbe possibile ma non è così semplice e già mi sembra di pretendere abbastanza dagli Utenti del mio Laboratorio.

Reality and politics in the Saharawi carpets

ICOC 07, Istanbul
Luciano Ghersi - Italy
Reality and politics in the Saharawi carpets
Go to PHOTO ALBUM
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I had been appointed as a weaving teacher in a cooperation project entitled "Recovery and Development of the Traditional Saharawi Weaving" that involved Saharawi refugee women in Algeria. I here relate my brief research and my short experiments in the field.
The project lasted two weeks and was held at the Women’s Workshop of the National Union of Saharawi Women in Dajla during the months of November and December 2005.
The project was managed by the Tuscany Region (Italy) and various other partners amongst them the
“Coordinamento Tessitori e Tessimili” the Italian association of hand weavers and similar, of which I am a member.
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The Saharawi and their weaving
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"Saharawi " is the recent name for people living in the area of the former Western Spanish Sahara, and in bordering countries such as the Canary Islands and Spain. The Saharawi people are composed of several tribes of Berbers that anciently mixed with the Maqil Bedouins from Yemen. They all speak the Hassani language, which is the same Arabic dialect spoken in Mauritania.
Contrary to Morocco’s claim of its’ ancient sovereignty regarding the territory inhabited by the Saharawi, they retort that the Almoravid Empire, which extended from Africa to Spain, was ruled by a Saharawi dynasty.
In 1975, Spain left the Western Sahara colony that was subsequently occupied and annexed by Morocco even though the Polisario Front (People’s Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro) put up quite a resistance. A mass exodus of refugees towards Algeria followed.
About 250.000 Saharawi are today still living in Refugee Camps in the worst desert of Algeria, under the authority of the exiled government of RASD (Democratic Saharawi Arab Republic). I was personally able to view various rugs belonging to families and institutions, during my visit to the Festival of Saharawi People’s Culture, set up as a campsite with dozens of traditional tents.
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In my humble opinion, no Saharawi tribal weaving may be ascertained, apart the weaving of "Khaima", the Saharawi nomad tent.
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In fact, they don’t even breed sheep for wool (for carpets); instead they breed only goats and camels for "Luvar", that means the tent clothe. This later wool is used exclusively for the Khaima and its related ropes. By the way, the darning on those Khaimas are modest and impressive performances of fiber art.
I later learned that darning is a job assigned to men, in other nomad tribes in the Maghreb. I would really like to know which gender does the darning amongst the Saharawi…as a male weaver I frequently stumble upon the commonplace idea that “the weaving arts are typically feminine”.
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"Zarbiya" is the most common type of knotted rug. It is greatly inspired by the "Rabati" carpets, which are produced throughout the Maghreb. These carpets in turn have been inspired by imported Ottoman patterns/designs. The Saharawi Zarbiya has large flat woven ends.
"Gkhtifa" is also often found. It is plain red knotted with brown saw sides, that are flat woven with goat wool. This seems the pure style of the traditional "Gkhtifa" of Rehamna (Moroccan area west of Marrakech). The Saharawi Gkhtifa has large flat woven ends.
"Ushada" means cushion. Some of them are quite appealing and recall, "free weaves" from Tribal Morocco.
Paul Vandenbroek in "Azetta, L'art des femmes Berbères" notices that in the less important pieces more creative liberty is allowed.
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I did not look into the origins of other woven objects because my course dealt with knotted rugs. However I found that:
"Hambal", which is woven partly pile & partly flat, with kilim effects. It can include patterns of Rabati origin and/or intriguing abstract naïf patterns/designs of the tribal kind.
"Tarkiya" is a blanket or striped carpet with sections decorated in “reps” or with discontinuus weft or with serial brocaded patterns. I was able to see these types of carpets being sold at the “Crièe Berbère” auction at the souk in Marrakech.
I did not find any piece older than 1975. This was due to the fact that people escaping from the war, were not able to carry any heavy family textiles with them. Therefore, the pieces I was able to observe were mainly woven inside the workshops created by the Government of the exiled RASD. These weaving centers were created mainly to allow the refugee women to interact amongst themselves, and to give them an occupation. Iron looms from Algeria were recycled for this purpose.
Some women had previously weft in the Rabati style, currently appointed to urban workshops in Dakhla and other towns of the past late Spanish Western Sahara. These were towns settled by fishermen, craft-men and traders, obviously never by farmers or nomads. Other women had never weft before their exile. The directors of the refugee workshops were people that had had a higher education; this meant that they usually gave no freedom to weavers regarding the design of the carpets. These directors were probably also foreign teachers, graduated in Fine or Decorative Arts...this is the world’s way to abolish tradition (if any) of weaving and to oppress the spontaneous creativity in the weavers that are often regarded as mere executers.
Today in these centers what prevails most are small “souvenir” pieces with political-touristy design. They are either “flat” and “pile” woven and are made with any type of knitwear fiber that is donated from industrial stock leftovers. Some women also weave at home on wood looms, on commission or for family usage.
The carpets woven in the Refugee workshops were given as diplomatic gifts to foreign allies of the RASD and to local institutions, more than just traded or for family use.
It was a quite peculiar way of spreading the carpets that was ancient and modern at the same time. This also displayed the peculiarity of the RASD that mixes an exquisite Bedouin etiquette with global politics.
The social and political meetings (called “actividades” by leaders educated and trained in Cuba) took place in tents or rooms filled with wall-to-wall carpets.
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The Present Situation
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This social way of "spreading carpets" languished after the fall of the Socialist Block in 1989.
The warehouses of the weaving centers in the refugee camps are bulging with carpets. The women continue producing these carpets, just to keep busy. By the way, the same thing happens in the occupational centers for the handicapped where I have often worked in Italy as a weaving teacher.
Today, some cooperation programs (funded by EU, Red Cross etc.) aim to develop the Saharawi weaving by involving it into the fair trade network. Unexpectedly, I myself was appointed in one such project. I never claimed to be an expert of pile rugs but I have designed and weft tapestries, kilim and clothe for the past 25 years. Furthermore I have collaborated with Tamil weavers in India, Udu Dumbara weavers in Sri Lanka, and Ewe weavers in Ghana. In the end, it wasn’t written anywhere in the program that it was necessary to weave knotted rugs. It was enough to simply work at developing sellable prototypes for the fair trade market. Since I didn’t think that the knotted rug would have been successful, I proposed to adopt the “drag loom” used in Kente weaving of Ghana. It would have been a quick and versatile loom that could have been easily built in the camp. However I encountered some resistance on the part of the proud Saharawi leaders in Italy. They believed my proposal to be a hostile attack on their national tradition. I had my doubts about their national tradition, as stated before. Therefore I studied the tied knot carpet technique in order to apply it to cushions and bags. These were less costly to produce and perhaps more sellable in the fair trade niche market.
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My workshop course
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It's now clear, that when I landed in Algeria, I was completely in the darkness about the history of the Saharawi weaving. This can happen to any technician or cooperators in various development projects regarding hand weaving. I had tried my best, however I could not find a single Saharawi carpet documented in any book or magazine. I searched the Internet and amongst the hundreds of thousands of pages dedicated to the Saharawi, all I found was the generic phrase “they weave”…yes, but what?
I had to improvise my weaving course. I gave some pencils to my women "students", and the task to design anything for a small pile carpet, that would then be assembled into a cushion. They had never designed before, and they probably took some inspiration from their beloved henna tattooing. I selected some scraps and encouraged the authors to weave something that might be similar to their project.
Besides the technique, that was often scanty, they weft some true masterpieces. One piece was even selected for the international biennial exhibition "Fiber Art al Centro" held in Amelia-Italy, in 2006.
The task of drawing their ideas was a mere excuse to make them understand that I expected them to truly make a creative effort and that I wasn’t solely interested in the execution of the works. The most interesting drawings went onto become weft. Other students wove very elastic patterns (more). These were patterns that I had expressly studied in order to force them to continuously choose forms and colors, therefore provoking their artistic compositional capability. I would encourage them to asymmetrically disseminate the back of the textile with different executions of the floral designs that they already knew well enough.
In the beginning, they felt puzzled and were afraid of making mistakes in the set drawing: they didn’t really understand what it would be… because there was no “precise drawing”! As they carried on with their work, they gained confidence and took their expressive liberties, sometimes excellently. This is not surprising, because weaving is a popular, spontaneous, and universal art, above all amongst women and not solely.
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"The Future"
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The biggest and the oldest weaving center of the Saharawi refugees is in the city of “27th February” (the Saharawi Independence Day). Located in this city is the Cooperative “El Futuro” (the Future), which has 24 large looms.
The renovation and development of this weaving center are being overseen by a cooperation project managed by the Calabria Region (Italy).
The historical emblem of “El Futuro” deserves our attention: it shows an arm and a leg crossed. The arm is clasping a comb that beats the weft. But what does the leg have to do with it? One doesn’t use their leg for weaving! The leg has wedged its way into the emblem to give importance to the weavers’ chronic leg pains.
Normally each woman would sit comfortably on the ground with her legs crossed. They can put a cushion under their knees, or a ball of trhread when they are sitting and working at the loom. However, the looms at “El Futuro” weren’t made to be used while sitting on the floor. The weavers needed a pretty high bench to be able to weave.
In the most ancient of carpet looms the yarn warp is taut to the ground between two posts, which are fastened to stakes. The weavers sit on the same carpet they are weaving. Even weavers that work on vertical looms weave in this manner (by sitting on the ground) and have the textile go down as it gradually takes form.
The looms, which need a bench to work on, obviously come from Chair-Land: Europe. Indeed, halfway through the 18th century, France had started to use the local textile labor force in its’ North African colonies. These “modern” bench looms, with their iron devices, quickly became widely used. Or perhaps the bench looms arrived later, with the arrival of Art Institutes or with International Aid. I, as a weaver would simply modify all looms that make a person suffer.
I was invited by the Italian board to keep in charge also the "El Futuro" project. However I have the clear impression that I will be excluded.
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Go to PHOTO ALBUM
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I have also created a Web site where you can thoroughly look into the subject of this panel.
Unfortunately it is in Italian only, with some parts in Spanish, however there is a gallery full of images.