Weaving Home

Items

• Weaving Home: The story of the Karenni people through daily craft
  Video about the Karenni weaving tradition
• Weaving Home: Textile Traditions from Houston's Karenni Community
  Houston has come to be home to a wide range of refugee communities from around the world. They all bring with them distinctive traditions. Weaving Home focuses on the weaving traditions practiced by a group of Houston-based women from the Karenni ethnic community. Houston’s Karenni are originally from the mountainous border region of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) that abuts Thailand. Weaving among the Karenni in Burma is a domestic practice and very much a part of home life. Weavers learn the tradition in the family and carry it on throughout their lives. The objects they weave – bags, skirts, capes, etc. -- are for functional use and everyday adornment. Several Karenni weavers in Houston have re-purposed their weaving skills. They have turned their craft to the creation of scarves, table runners and other objects attractive to Western consumers. This adaptation works to preserve the art form and to sustain the community culturally and economically. Weaving Home shows examples of both Karenni traditional and market-influenced pieces in an effort to tell the story of an art form at the center of refugee life. As they make a home in Houston, they weave. As they weave, they make a home.
• Refugee Interview-Ooh Reh Sor
  Ooh Reh Sor recounts his experiences in Myanmar and being subjected to the conditions of refugee camps and treatment by Burmese soldiers.
• Traditional Weaving -Myanmar (6)
  Karenni fabric detail
• Installation detail - Weaving Home
• Traditional Weaving -Myanmar (example 4A)
  Karenni Fabric
• Installation shot of exhibit "Weaving Home"
  Photo by Sontera Dresch.
• Traditional Burmese clothing - Karenni woman 3
  Traditional garb of a Karenni woman - from the exhibition "Weaving Home".
• Traditional Burmese clothing - Karenni woman 2
  Traditional garb of a Karenni woman - from the exhibition "Weaving Home".
• Traditional Burmese clothing - Karenni woman 1
  Traditional garb of a Karenni woman - from the exhibition "Weaving Home".
• Traditional Weaving -Myanmar (example 3A)
  Karenni Fabric
• Traditional Weaving -Myanmar (example 2A)
  Photo by Debra Ham, detail of Burmese weaving.
• Traditional Weaving -Myanmar (example 1A)
• Traditional Weaving -Myanmar (example 3)
• Traditional Weaving -Myanmar (example 2)
  From the exhibition "Weaving Home" at Houston Arts Alliance, 2012. Curated by Pat Jasper & Angel Quesada. Folklife and Civic Engagement Department, Houston Arts Alliance.
• Traditional Weaving -Myanmar (example 1)
• Weaving Home - Exhibition card
• Karenni weaver from Myanmar in traditional garb.
  Karenni weaver from Myanmar in traditional garb.