Karenni Weavers
Featured here are three weavers: Bu Myar, Hti Moe and Baw Meh, each pictured below wearing their traditional Karenni clothing. In the photos below, they are dressed in traditional garb with sashes, jewelry and head wraps. These garments and adornments are donned for special Karenni events celebrated in their community. The contemporary weaving they craft to sell to Western admirers comprises items such as purses, table runners, shawls and the like. Though different from traditional pieces, their work is still intended to enhance the personal and domestic lives of their current consumers.
Baw Meh does not know the name of her original village in the Eastern part of the Karenni state because she fled it on foot at the age of 4. She lost her parents as an Infant. As the youngest child, she was raised by her brothers and sisters. She married before leaving Burma in 1996 for Thailand, and was resettled to Houston with her husband and four children in 2009.
Hti Moe was born in Daw Tamye in the western part of the Karenni state. When she was 12, the Burmese military burned her village and forcibly moved the community to a nearby city. The displaced villagers slept under the houses of the city dwellers. She, her parents and her 8 siblings fled to Thailand in 1996.
Bu Myar was born in the village of Daw Takeh in the eastern part of the Karenni state. In 1991, when she was 10, she fled the civil war in Burma with her parents and siblings and entered Thailand. In the refugee camp she married and had four children. Her parents are still in Thailand.
