Needleworker in Kutch, India KVMS project Maiwa Foundation PhotoI went to a really inspiring talk at the VGFA meeting last night after a frustrating day of trying to construct my CSI challenge pieces. There is nothing like extraordinary examples of textile work that is done in the most extreme conditions to make me stop whining.
Ros Aylmer brought beautiful examples of traditional and non-traditional work and very instructive slides back from her trip to Bhug, India. Her presentation was thoughtful and informed.
She was able to get photographs of the nomadic people in the region. Thier camels were fully loaded and travelling through the desert. It reminded me that we really need very little as human beings and that we can still create beautiful objects to decorate our bodies and our environments.
Governments internationally are not respecting this ability to survive in people. They have been trying to get nomadic people to settle all over the world. Children are placed in schools by well meaning groups like UNESCO. What is happening however is that knowledge is lost. Sustainable practise is lost. Beauty is disappearing and being replaced by uniformity all over the world.
I watched slide after slide of people teaching Ros and her daughter skills that have existed for four thousand years or longer. I touched the quality of the cloth and examined closely the incredible intricacy and beautiful designs that will be lost very soon if they are not protected and encouraged.
People who live with little and can pack everything they own on the back of a camel have so much to teach the rest of us about protecting this earth.
Tonight is Kirsten Chursinoff's opening at the West Vancouver library.
1 comment:
It can be very humbling to remember that many a "need" is truly only a "want"...
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