Textile Tuesday: Amazigh Textiles
10.01.12
Life & Style
The first of the series, curated by Source4Style written by Nahida Sinno-Vasileiou.
In the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa - namely Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya – lies a breathtakingly beautiful heritage of weaving among Berber women. In a harsh land characterized by stark terrain and endless sands, the brightly colored carpets, blankets and clothing woven from sheep, goat and camel wool draw on the region's religious and spiritual symbols, carrying a strangely fascinating mysticism.
Weaving carries much prestige among the Berber peoples – and is exclusively left to the women who traditionally weave kilims – tapestries representing the traditional appearance and uniqueness of the region of origin of each tribe. Amazigh women are therefore the guardians of the Amazigh culture. Hamid Kachmar, a Moroccan born artists of indigenous Berber ancestry, whose art is grounded in the Amazigh culture philosophy is based on a trilogy of Akal, Awal, Afghan – which means respectively: land, language and people. In a society that lacks any written forms for centuries, textiles weaved by the Amazigh women may have filled the gap.
The ancient Arab proverb of “every thread has a soul” reflects the personification of textile creation. Amongst African and Islamic weavers, Imazighen consider their fabrics to be amulets or talismans having remedial powers to protect them and their families from darker forces. The motifs are steeped in symbolism – and are generally associated with the fertility of earth and women, the good and the evil, love and hate, truth and falsity, beauty and ugliness.
Amazigh textile is a reflection of the diverse and sometimes extreme natural and political environments. For the nomad tribesman born and roaming in the Atlas Mountains, textiles have not only been a necessity of life but also a means of creative expression. According to the Textile Museum of Canada and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they are a way of documenting life experiences and relations with nature and other cultures. The traditional signs and symbols have been used as a metaphor for colonial policies that forced foreign languages and cultures and an allegory of the limitation of liberties in the postcolonial era.
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