Press Release

Touching diversity! Mediterranean Artisans in a creative dialogue

Artisans from European and Mediterranean countries will be meeting their Maltese counterparts in various local markets to exhibit their crafts while creating new items and sharing their techniques. The artisans will demonstrate how we can experience other cultures through the sense of touch, thus enhancing intercultural dialogue through common ground and an acquired understanding of each other’s tradecraft.

The initiative devised by Koperattiva Kummerċ Ġust, Malta’s Fair Trade organisation, forms part of the 5 senses project for the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue in Malta.

Nathalie Grima, founding member of Koperattiva Kummerc Ġust said that ‘Fair Trade is itself a hands-on experience of active collaboration between cultures, community development, diversity and sustainable practices.’ During the first encounter Doris Cachia, an embroidery teacher at the Malta Society of Arts, will meet Amal Sayed Hassan Sayed, an embroidery worker from the Shandawyl Women Group, Fair Trade Egypt. The public is invited to witness the colourful art of embroidery and meet the artisans on Sunday 30th March at the Valletta market and on Tuesday 1st April at the Cospicua market.

The artisans will also be delivering an embroidery workshop at the Malta Society of Arts, Palazzo De La Salle, Republic Street, Valletta, on Tuesday 1st April from 5pm to 7pm. NGOs and the general public are also invited to meet the Egyptian artisan for a public talk about Intercultural Dialogue and Fair Trade, on Saturday 29th at St. James Cavalier from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. MCAST Arts and Design College at Tarġa Gap, Mosta, will also be hosting the Egyptian artisan for a 3-hour workshop with the college students on Wednesday 2nd April. Participation for all events is free of charge.

The 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue is an initiative of the European Union with co-funding from the Ministry of Education and Culture and support from the National Lottery Good Causes Fund. St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity is the National Coordinating Body for the year with Atelier Culture Projects acting as project coordinators. For further information visit www.dialogue2008.eu or www.sjcav.org

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Shandawyl Women Group

More than 20 women embroiderers constitute this artisan group. Like most women from Shandawyl Island, the artisans have hand-decorated scarves for generations. Embroiderers spend days perfecting pieces that will either find their way into their wardrobes or into their homes, as fancy wall decorations.

Their creations stand out from other pieces of Upper Egypt, because of their consistency and cheerfulness. Besides their exceptional fabric, their skill also displays the most colorful embroideries. They sew a virtual garden of plants and blooms in the brightest, happiest colors onto the sheath. The different flora designs are all based on time-honored traditional Shandawyl motifs.