Timor Aid Open Day - Tais Competition
Winners of Weaving Competition AnnouncedThe winners of Timor Aid’s first weaving competition were announced at a ceremony on Tuesday 5 October.
Timor Aid received 32 entries from women’s weaving groups across the districts of Oecusse, Bobonaro and Covalima including tais and cloth products using natural and artificial dyes and traditional and modern motifs.
The contestants were weavers Timor Aid has been working with over the past two years in a project funded by AECID, in partnerships with Fundes
o. Over $1,400 in cash prizes was awarded based on a judging panel’s decision.
Antoninha Barros from Covalima won first prize in the artificial dyes category. Working with two other women, it took two and a half weeks weaving all day to make the tais. Antoninha said she was proud to have won, and wants to make a more beautiful tais next year. She believes the tradition needs to be celebrated and passed on. Her mother taught her to weave when she was 14 and now she is teaching her daughters.
Maria Guteres and Maturina de Azauja, sisters from Covalima, won first prize in the natural dyes category. They used indigo for blue, turmeric for yellow and teak wood to make red cotton. The design was a motif they learnt from their mother. Maria said she prefers weaving using artificially-coloured cotton because it is less time consuming, but winning the natural dyes prize has made her keen to explore using more dye plants.
The weaving competition is part of Timor Aid’s ongoing work to preserve and promote Timor Leste’s textile art.