Textiles × Science : Textile Technology Research Group

Posted • Recently published "When Linen Remembers" in Material Intelligence, edited by Glenn Adamson, Chipstone Foundation. LINK IN BIO.

Excerpt: "Linen is difficult to weave. Not supple, not pliant—it is stately and proud. It does not bend freely to the will of others and is downright defiant at times. But as we dress our looms, we are enticed by linen’s whispers. We hear its origin story, we understand its stalk-straight lineage. So we come to linen with honey and dates, herbs and leaves, water and smoke, and together play the loom in a rhythm of remembering. As we weave, its archaic memory flows into our hands, its golden seeds flood us with the gift of recollection. Memory is linen’s mother tongue."

ALIPIO MELO, DANITZA WILLKA, and MARÍA JOSÉ MURILLO:
Noqanchis Awaqkuna (We The Weavers / Nosotrxs lxs tejedorxs)

Wednesday, November 3rd, 4:15-5:45 pm CST
Free and open to the public. Virtual on Zoom. Join on Zoom here:
saic-edu.zoom.us/j/82285482070
This event will take place in English and Spanish, with live, simultaneous interpretation in both languages.

NOQANCHIS AWAQKUNA
(We The Weavers)

This lecture brings together members of the Noqanchis group (Union of Textile Artists - Andes of Peru), recently formed by prominent young Indigenous weavers from Pitumarca, Peru, Alipio Melo and Danitza Willka, together with artist María José Murillo (SAIC MFA 2019). In Quechua, noqanchis translates to "we all". It is an inclusive 'we' (+) as opposed from noqayku, which refers to a restrictive 'we' (-). Unlike Western languages, Quechua maintains the same root for 'I' [noqa] and for 'we' [noqanchis/noqayku], demonstrating the inseparable link between the individual and the community in the construction of Andean identity.

The presentation will create a space for the weavers to speak from their most personal voice, thereby subverting the historical representations that the western perspective has imposed on indigenous cultures. Textile artists from Pitumarca – better known as "The Capital of Andean Weaving" – will share reflections on how they keep their traditions alive, focusing on the ancestral and trans-temporal technology of the backstrap loom as a tool for contemporary cultural production. In this way, weaving is lived in the Andes not only as an activity, but also as an episteme, establishing relationships between the Earth beings and the Cosmos, between the past and the future.

Made possible by the generous support of the William Bronson and Grayce Slovett Mitchell Lectureship in Fiber and Material Studies. All lectures will be live captioned by CART. For additional access requests, including ASL interpretation or audio description, visit saic.edu/access.

[Image description: Outdoors in the sun, three people sit cross-legged in a circle on the ground. Each holds a strand of the yarn being spun together onto a drop spindle in the center.]