S1 E8 - “Know your Assam Weaves“
Episode 8 : “Know your Assam Weaves“
“Assamese women weave dreams on their looms,” said Mahatma Gandhi during his first visit to Assam in 1921. Cut to today, a century later & this still holds true!
अबnoरmal proudly presents “Touring Talkies”
Season 1 “Kanyakumari se Kashmir tak - Ek Sari-torial Safar”.
This weekend our Sari-torial Safar takes us on on a journey to Assam ; a state that practically has a loom in every home & where traditionally the women weave for their families & themselves. A state known for its silks, tea & Kaziranga, the Handloom weaves of Assam are as distinct & colorful as their various communities that made Assam their home. Assam with nearly 200 distinct tribes & 8 major communities in the plains & hills that probably settled in the rich Brahmaputra region from various parts of India & the bordering South East Asian countries is a veritable gene pool that brought their own distinct weaving traditions whilst assimilating into the Assamese social & cultural fabric. Every tribe or community weaves at least 7-10 different types of fabrics for men, women and the household & there at least 75-80 distinct types of textiles with distinct names and purposes that are made and used for various purposes. The gamosa and mekhela sador are probably the most well known but the other main women’s attires are the Dokhona and Jomgra, the Riphan, Kambang, Ege, Ribi Gacheng, Gero, Pini, pekok etc.
Our Guest Speaker today is Jonali Saikia Khashnabish founder of Heeya Social Enterprise & Managing Trustee of Heartcrafted Foundation as also a livelihood consultant with a focus on women’s livelihoods.
Hear Jonali hold forth on
how despite having no design or textile background she saw an opportunity for these women weavers to make a better income for their skills and thus set out to crafting an idea for textiles that could be sold to an outside world by providing various interventions to create livelihoods for them.
Please sit back & enjoy the video we have filmed. Hope you appreciate our sincerity of effort & do provide constructive feedback, comments & suggestions.
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Video edit courtesy @kk_fotography
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