A Weaving from Sumba

Coming across local names of textiles makes me realise that the 5.5 languages I know are totally inadequate. I should have learnt them all.

For, every word, is descriptive and though the words ‘Lau Pahikung’ will henceforth be identified with this textile in my head, I will never be able to completely comprehend everything it stands for. In reality, the cultural roots of this word are connected to other cultural concepts that I will never understand in their entirety  and therefore I will never understand the soul completely.

If only I knew more languages.

Here is this beautiful textile – which clearly has some reason to have several ostriches and one human form.

Here is a close-up that surprised me a bit:

The front:

The back:

The blue and the ochre that are beautiful accents on the front are completely missing on the back.  I’d seen this is other South East Asian textiles and was told that this is on account of an additional warp that conceals the pattern at the back…. but in this case that did not seem to be the case.

So I looked closer.

And discovered this:

The blue / ochre accents all over the textile are painted or dyed in! Unexpected!

Thank god for these very very sharp lenses on the phones these days. It was only through an examination of photos that I realised that this was not thread.

Again, there must be a reason why those who are so skilled in weaving with supplementary threads, chose to paint / dye the accents with blue and ochre, rather than weave them in!

And am certain had I known the language I would have had fewer mysteries to solve.

See more of 1411 on wovensouls.com

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jm

Sep 2019