Joy of Weaving

Joy of Weaving - World Wide Weaving of Women 2

A cultural exchange between Mayan weavers from Guatemala and textile artists from Bavaria.

Artists from the National Movement of Mayan Weavers of Guatemala traveled to Munich to engage in cultural exchange with local textile artists. The Mayan weavers learned local textile techniques from their Bavarian colleagues, explored European looms and materials (recycled plastic bags, old clothing and natural materials). The German artists were able to learn how to use the Mayan “back strap loom” and explore various indigenous textile techniques and materials from Guatemala (fine cotton in bright colors).

The joint work took place in the studios and workshops of the local artists and in Studio 1 of Halle 6, where they showed the results of this cultural exchange in the exhibition “Joy of Weaving - so far and yet so close”, namely unique artistic works, which expressed the fusion of both cultures.

The public was invited to participate in an excursion to the Industrial and Textile Museum in Augsburg, a multi-day workshop at the LUISE cultural center and a lecture at the LMU Munich about the struggles of Mayan weavers for copyrights to their art and for the rights of indigenous women. Joint rituals based on the tradition of Mayan women and interactive performances involving the audience took place as part of the project and in the well-attended exhibition.

Main subjects of the project:

• Focus: Women in textile arts and crafts;

• Safe Spaces: Protected exchange of techniques, designs, traditions and individual specializations;

• Appreciation and making visible: Retrieving niches of textile art and presenting it in a professional artistic context;

• Sustainability: Spreading weaving, knotting and braiding techniques using used materials (upcycling);

• Raising awareness: precarious situation of weavers and textile artists (locally and worldwide);

• Support: Movimiento de las tejedoras Maya in Guatemala, which fights for the rights of indigenous weavers (building schools, fair marketing and copyrights to patterns and techniques);

Project managers:

Doro Seror, multidisciplinary artist, founder of the Joy of Weaving initiative - World Wide Weaving of Women (Germany)

Sofía González S., anthropologist, social research and consulting (Guatemala)

Artists:

Sylvia Wiechmann, master hand weaver (Germany)

Waltraud Münzhuber, master hand weaver and costume painter, (Germany)

Kim Rathnau, artist and environmental activist (Germany)

Angelina Aspuac, weaver, activist, coordinator of the National Movement of Mayan Weavers (Guatemala)

Gloria Estella Garcia, Master Weaver, Head of the Weavers Council of S.D.Xenacoj(Guatemala)

Maria Elene Curruchiche, painter, master weaver, head of the weaving council of S. J. Comalapa (Guatemala)