TMASC - Mantles of Merit: Chin Textile From Mandalay to Chittagong David W. Fraser, MD & Barbara Fraser, JD

In the rugged hills of western Myanmar (Burma), northeastern India and
southeastern Bangladesh live some 2 million people called, variously, Chin, Zo, Lai
or Kuki. Their isolation has left their textiles little known, despite the remarkable
virtuosity of Chin weavers and the importance of textiles in the core Chin effort to
seek merit in this life and the afterlife. For their backstrap loom-woven textiles, Chin
weavers have traditionally used locally grown cotton, flax and hemp, dyed with
indigo and lac, and silk imported from Mandalay. Patterning varies from minimalist
statements evocative of a Mark Rothko painting to exquisitely intricate
supplementary yarn patterning, in some cases using weaving structures mastered
exceptionally by the Chin.

David and Barbara Fraser addressed the Textile Museum Associates of Southern
California's members who attended their lecture in a wonderful Saturday morning at
Santa Monica Public Library with several slides they had gathered through many
trips they have had to the region. First, Cherry Hunter, introduced the couple, and
then Barbara gave her 15-minute speech followed by a 20-minute speech of David.
Then question and answer session began. After the meeting was over, many of the
participants examined the textiles from the region. Several of the participants, had
brought the Chin textiles they had to the meeting. It was a wonderful experience.

Dennis Marquand the owner and president of www.rugbooks.com was also present
with copies of the book written by David and Barbara Fraser. Several people bought
the book and asked the authors for their autograph which they kindly accepted.
David and Barbara signed the first page of the book.

Below, you can see the pictures and short videos captured by Ashkan, exclusively
for www.RugIdea.com