A Few of the Extraordinary Stories Behind The Extraordinary Art

Contact: Clare Hertel 505-474-6783
Clare@ClareHertelCommunications.com

The Artist: Joy Ndungutse, Gahaya Links Cooperative
The Region: Rwanda
The Medium: Hand-woven baskets

Joy Ndungutse was raised in a Ugandan refugee camp and knows firsthand what it means to be poor and hungry. She learned how to weave at an early age from her mother and older sister Josephine.

Joy was fortunate in that she was able to get an education and move to Washington, D.C., to help start the Ugandan Women’s Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO) Washington Chapter. When she returned to her native Rwanda after the devastating genocide of 1994, she encountered scores of women, most of them new widows, facing the same challenges she had experienced as a girl. Joy and her sister Janet Nkubana helped these women—both Hutu and Tutsi—to organize themselves into basket-weaving cooperatives now called Gahaya Links. “I realized that this was an opportunity to not just have women earn money; it was an opportunity to build peace,” said Joy’s sister Janet. It did not matter if one woman’s husband had killed another’s. The sisters asked that the women put the past behind them and just weave. Gahaya Links is now made up of over 4,000 weavers. They sell to an international marketplace, and this is their fifth year at the Market. They will bring many extraordinary baskets including Gahaya Links’ signature “peace baskets,” featuring a zigzag motif that represents friends walking side by side.

Joy is a single mother of three, a girl and two boys. The family lives in Kigali, Rwanda.

The Artist: Aboubakar Sidiki Fofana
The Region: Mali
The Medium: Indigo Textiles

In a story in Hand/Eye magazine, Karen Gibbs writes, “An experienced traveler and textile enthusiast recently said of Aboubakar Fofana, ‘One look in his eyes tells you he is an old soul.’ The same can be said of his methods.”

A master artist, Fofana is keeping alive the traditional practice of indigo dyeing that dates back to the 11th century in Mali.

He has worked for years in Africa, France, Japan, and Great Britain to preserve the ancient dyeing techniques he uses for his sublime textiles.

Elders first taught Fofana about indigo, igniting a passion for the techniques as well as for reviving the growth of biological indigo and organic cotton in West Africa.

Fofana and his team of artisans spin and weave their cotton and linen by hand, then dye the fabric and sew each piece by hand. Photo © Bob Smith. All rights reserved.

Matluba Bazarova, Bogiafzal Cooperative
The Region: Uzbekistan
The Medium: Suzani

Matluba Bazarova was born in the small traditional village of Tukol district in 1956. She learned to embroider at the age of 9, which began a life-long love and mastery of the ancient and magnificent crafts of her region. In 1998, with the help of international organizations including UNESCO and Aid to Artisans, Bazarova founded the Bogiafzal Cooperative with the goal of reviving traditional crafts and creating jobs for women from low-income families in rural areas of Bukhara province. Bogiafzal means “beautiful garden” and derives from poets comparing embroidered suzani textiles to “blossoming gardens.” Today the women of the cooperative create some of the most beautiful traditional suzanis in the world. Embroidery is one of the oldest crafts in Uzbekistan and it is believed that having suzanis in your home brings good fortune to the family.

The Artists: Mary Padar Kuojok, The Roots Project
The Region: Republic of South Sudan
The Medium: Beadwork

The Republic of South Sudan became the world’s newest nation state when it declared independence on July 9, 2011. Ravaged by war, it has some of the worst health and education indicators in the world. A girl at 15 in South Sudan has a higher probability of dying in childbirth than finishing high school. The Roots Project was founded by human rights activist Anyieth D’Awol in 2009 in Juba to create opportunities for economic self-sufficiency for the many disadvantaged women affected by war. D’Awol believed that South Sudan’s unique cultural history should be preserved to help forge a cohesive national identity. The project now employs over 60 women from 16 different tribal groups. The project teaches traditional crafts, the knowledge of which were almost lost during the many years of war.

The brightly colored jewelry and handicrafts are sold to generate much needed income and the collaboration between the tribes supports peace and understanding.

Master beader Mary Padar will make the long journey to the 2012 Market in Santa Fe. She was a young Dinka child when war broke out, and she vividly remembers the displacement of her family. She has lived most of her life surrounded by war, and three of her eleven children have died. For many years she worked as a cook for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army; in 2010 she was finally free to move to Juba, where she joined the Roots Project. Now she is affectionately known as “haboba,” or grandmother. The beautiful traditional Dinka Yirol corsets that she beads and sells through the project help her support her family and send her many grandchildren to school.

The Artists: Farzana Sharshenbieva and Kadyrkul Sharshembieva
The Region: Kyrgyzstan
The Medium: Handmade silk-and-felt scarves

Farzana Sharshenbieva and Kadyrkul Sharshembieva were both younger than 10 when their grandmother taught them the embroidery and feltwork that are unique to the mountainous regions of eastern Kyrgyzstan.  It’s a family tradition that dates back some 300 years. Now the sisters are themselves master artisans, designing and stitching silk scarves so beautiful that they won the UNESCO Award of Excellence in 2007 and 2008.  These shimmering, jewel-toned scarves caught the eye of Judith Espinar, co-founder and creative director of the Market, during a trip to Kyrgyzstan in 2010, and she knew right away that Farzana and Kadyrkul would be a welcome addition to the Market.  The artistry in these pieces indeed seems to be a genetic gift: The sisters are now busy teaching their own daughters the family craft.

The Artist: Rado Herivonona Ambinintsoa
The Region: Madagascar
The Medium: Hand-woven silk and cotton textiles

In the central highlands of Madagascar, a girl’s life as an artisan begins at birth, when she receives the tools with which she will someday learn to weave. It’s a tradition that’s been passed from generation to generation for centuries. Women still produce all of the silk and cotton themselves, use natural dyes from native plants, and weave the fabric on eucalyptus looms. Now, however, their artistry has become a way for them to make a living. Through a cooperative called Sahalandy, weavers learn how to sell their products to an international market. They learn new techniques for sustainable silk and cotton production and attend workshops in business planning. Photo © David Evans

For more information, interview requests, and photos, please contact Clare Hertel at 505-474-6783 or Clare@ClareHertelCommunications.com.