"Tehuana, how i adore you"
Is there a tribe? an indigenous group you love???
That you wish in your dreams you could get reborn into their culture??
For me its the Tehuana's those feisty women who ride on a motor scooter trailer like Helen of Troy, in the searing heat and look like they haven't a care in world as they have just beaten their husband with words and are off to do a little business (whilst he's shopping at the market for all the households daily needs)
Oh to be the woman of this tribe!!!!!!!! who wears the most delicious Traje, for years i never bought a thing from these towns, always seeing it as a way to burn up my buying budget and not have enough to purchase anything else with what was left, its clothing haunted me for years and from time to time i would buy a piece here and there.
I even made friends with a travelling Tehuana salesman, who always had things in his case that would make me faint, i used to avoid him sometimes so i didn't have to see his treasures and pass out at his prices,,,,, i knew it was worth it but for that i could buy two blouses from a friend the following day in her home town.
Last night whilst unpacking some boxes i had a safely aside, i came across this book of Diego Rivera's paintings, i took a look at all the pages but kept coming back to this one of the woman Lola in her traditional clothing a paining that is at the Dolores Olmedo de Olvero gallery in Mexico City, here Lola is holding a huge open gourd bowl which is hand painted, and now a formidable price for an ordinary version of such a piece.
I posted this print on insatgram and my followers cheered as they too had been provoked by the hauntingly beautiful shadings of the hand embroidery and flowers, i have a whole collection that i have been adding to from this town now, i expect it will be in some museum one day as people begin to comprehend the true beauty of something that has been totally made by hand and the legend of Frida Kahlo and her whimsy for the same town lives on.
My proudest moment below was in 2010 when my idol since the 1970's came to visit our small town and spoke on Mexican Textiles i shall never forget that day in my life,,, i was so anxious i forgot half the things i wanted to ask Chloe Sayer at the time, but since have had the good fortune to keep in touch with her by email and last year bumped into her on the street in Mexico City fortunately we both had time for a cuppa and a catchup once again, in Bangalow i got the opportunity to dress as a woman from Tehuanatepec. Normally the full traje includes a face crown made of lace that the women wear for weddings which are very hard to find these days with Vintage merchants and of course then there is the starch that you need to use to keep it standing up as a crown.
My passion for textiles never ceases, and my need to buy the most beautiful pieces continues on. Fortunately i am surrounded by textile traders women and men who can understand the value in something unique, something hand made, an item of unique beauty these people often with histories in Fashion, Design and Art whom are conduits for my work and desires, and assist me to continue this work with their support and encouragement.
