The Textiles of Oecusse

The exhibition featured a variety techniques used by Oecusse weavers, which took place in the Sentru Kultural Xanana from June 2 to 30, attracting visitors from around Dili who assisted weavers through the process of natural dying. Weavers from Fitun Fronteira, Usapicolen, Oecusse district participated in demonstrations.

There were 5 schools around Dili Nuu Laran and Amigo de Jesus primary schools, Escola Portuguesa Ruy Cinatti and St. José Operario Balide Pre Secondary and Secondary which were supported through excursions to attend the exhibit, additional schools also requested a special excursion for their students The students came to visit the exhibition to learn about the weaving process in general and specifically Oecusse textiles and to gain insight into the process of making them. There were over 100 students who participated in the exhibition excursion, this amount did not include the casual visitors.

The textiles presented in this exhibition were extracted from Timor Aid, Fundasaun Alola and Private Collection. This exhibition was part of the culture project funded by European Commission, In search of common ground: Textile Cultural tradition in the island of Timor for the staff to learn how to mount an exhibition as well as how to run education activities a textile centre.