First Big Event of the season...

REWEAVING A LIFE - Art of Women Weavers of Palm: Their Struggle with Water, Poverty and Pride

Begins at September 7th 12:00 AM, 2007
Ends at September 26th 12:00 AM, 2007
Organized by OPIRG McMaster

Reweaving a Life Art Exhibition September 7th – 26th, 2007 @ The Pearl Company, 16 Steven Street, Hamilton (905-524-0606). Painting and etchings capture daily life of villagers, created by Mexican artists, Alejandro G. Aranda and Maya Saenz Romero and Canadian artists, Karen Kulyk and Yar Taraky. The exhibit also features “art in palm,” baskets woven by the Nahua women weavers and a photographic display.

Opening Ceremony Friday, September 7 @ 7:30 p.m at the Pearl Company. Nahua spiritual leader of Mexico, Ignacio Torres, will lead the sacred ceremony. Music by Gary Santucci.

REWEAVING A LIFE - Art of Women Weavers of Palm

Their Struggle with Water, Poverty and Pride

High in the mountains of central Mexico in northern Guerrero, the Nahua villagers of Tlamacazapa weave palm baskets, an ancient art form preserved over centuries. Palm is the basis of the economy in this village of 6,200 people. The villagers live in acute poverty with environmental toxicity. Harmful toxins and metals in their water, soil, glazed clay cooking pots and palm dyes seriously affect their health, especially that of the malnourished young child and pregnant woman.

The women’s stories, expressed in the paint and ink of four artists, portray an inspirational movement from oppression to the freeing of spirit. As one weaver said,

The women in Tlamacazapa tolerate and are silent. We need to speak in order to solve our problems. If I remain fearful, I will never advance. I want to be courageous and speak.

Within a frequently violent and disorganized setting, the women weavers work to transform this silence -- a crippling vacuum that permits physical and spiritual toxicity -- into a compelling call to action. Their goal, “clean water for all,” reflects their belief that sufficient, pure water and a harmonious environment are basic human rights and a collective responsibility. The women of Tlamacazapa are re-weaving their lives, to ones that are rich with purpose, pride and peace.

(Various Events during August and September - check individual listings at opirg.ca)

The Reweaving a Life Art Exhibition is co-sponsored by Caminamos Juntos para Salud y Desarrollo, A. C. (Walking Together for Health and Development, Cuernavaca, Mexico) (www.caminamosjuntos.org) and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario) with financial support of the Canadian Auto Workers Social Justice Fund; the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Humanitarian Fund; and the Belleville Tlama Clean Water Group.

For more information: OPIRG McMaster 905-525-9140 ext. 27289 opirg@mcmaster.ca

or The Pearl Company 905-524-0606 babaramilne@cogeco.ca