The stars tell us stories, and with them, we can traverse time and space. Through them, we understand that the depth of the universe is infinite. Throughout human history, they have helped us explore the world, narrate mythologies, understand the seasons, and dream of new imaginaries. Recognizing where we come from is a step forward in understanding who we are.
During this workshop, led by the Warmi Küyen Collective and hosted by Anna Hoetjes, we want to create a deep and creative dialogue between our understanding of the stars and the textile practice of embroidery. Through embroidery, participants will explore the role and influence that stars play in our understanding of nature and in our daily lives. Reflecting collectively on basic knowledge of astronomy, both from the Northern and Southern hemispheres, we want to connect the wisdom of both, through joint reflection on some Greco-Roman myths and the Andean cosmovision. The invitation is to discover how ancient cultures used the knowledge and movement of the stars to understand and transform their daily lives, using them for navigation, agriculture and cultural traditions, among others. As well as the impact it has today, in the understanding of our society, science and our own human nature.
In this workshop we will create a collective work called “Celestial Planisphere”, in which participants will work with the embroidery technique to create a map of the sky. On this collective canvas, participants will embroider the constellations visible during the Summer Solstice, both in the Southern and Northern hemispheres. This date is inspirational as it marks the beginning of a new cycle for many ancient cultures as well as marking the beginning of a new planetary cycle from an astronomical perspective. By working on this canvas, participants will learn the basic stitches necessary to embroider this textile piece, as well as some basic knowledge about astronomy, the dimensions of the different stars, their position in the sky, the ancestral and mythological history behind them, and how to use a celestial planisphere in real life.
Warmi Küyen is a collective of Latin American women artists and cultural managers, based in Amsterdam, NL. The collective arises from their need to express their feelings and vision through the textile arts, promoting and spreading the Andean Textile culture.
