My grandmother and great grandmothers grandmother grandmother for many generations in the past were textile practitioner living in the vicinity of UNESCO Geological park Papuk, Croatia with recorded accounts of the wildlife; flora and fauna. It was a thriving community of textiles practitioners and they use to weave, do Croatian lacework, make embroidery and textile appliqué, grow linen and use natural dyes and processes. Thick white linen sheets were embroidered in rich colours decorating cars during weddings and is one of many ceremonies incorporations textiles. They also made traditional folk costumes and had ceremonies accompanied with dance. What fascinates me about rural communities is that they had a closeness to natural resources. The pre-Christian beliefs of European and Anatolian agricultural communities revolved around the natural world - sun, moon, stars, earth, sky, water, and trees where these dances are said to have their roots.
I’m the first textile practitioner in my family study textiles at art school.
I have for a longtime wanted to delve into my childhood as we immigrated to Sweden in 1992 when I was five years old and have come across much that I’d like to explore further. Yesterday I got in touch with a textile practitioner that lived in the same village as my grandmother and is a thriving textile practitioner still and I’m over the moon with joy to collaborate with her on some artefacts particularly lacework and this poists the first step into exploring my childhood.
This is very moving for me and I hope it will be deeply touching to start this project as soon as I finish the Living Bridges Project with Frederica and Henrique.