I was doing some research on the Somali community within Minneapolis and I stumbled upon the East African Women's Center. They hold several different programs including The Textile Cooperative, where women share old weaving tradition.
"The unveiling of Somali elder women’s textile art in the US occurred in an exhibition, Stories in the Cloth, at The Textile Center of Minnesota in June 2006.The Somali weavers, who are refugees from the war in Somalia and who were notable to weave during the years spent in camps because they did not have materials,are now beginning to recreate the art they learned from their mothers and grandmothers as teenagers. The women are thrilled to be able to practice their art again, re-introducing designs that are thousands of years old. Twined weavings have been used for hundreds of years in Somalia for baskets, bags, and rugs as decorations for homes, and saddles for camels and horses."
read more here: http://eawc.insourcemedia.com/programs/ancientArt.php
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I completed a type two diabetes project several years ago in Baltimore that worked with East Baltimore African American women who made traditional East African quilts. The campaign used quilt colors and patterns to create community by having different part of a story at different locations where women gathered. It also delivered little snippets of dealing with type two diabetes. The project culminated with doctors and East Baltimore women coming together at a community location to make a quilt and discuss dealing with, preventing, controlling, and educating others about the condition. The quilt became a remembering, and a gathering as well as a celebration.
ReplyDeleteThis organization might be a nice conduit for our next step