On Tuesday, I arrived back home from my amazing trip to the International Festival of Gold Embroidery in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Although I am an experienced traveller, with places like Libya under my belt, I have never experienced anything like this. The people were warm, open and very interested in my craft. Some festival visitors had been gold embroiderers themselves or had close relatives who were gold embroiderers. As gold embroidery is still very much visible in Bukhara, people see it as their precious heritage worthy of preservation. Some were amazed that, in far-away very exotic Western Europe, gold embroidery is practised too. I even met an elderly lady who had been a German teacher all her life. She was so happy to speak with a near-native speaker for the first time in her life. So, what did I do? As you can see in the picture above, I had a small booth. My embroideries were in the display case behind me. Two posters explained my goal of understanding medieval goldwork embroidery by making replicas. During the festival, I sat in front of my booth and demonstrated goldwork embroidery. My Lowery workstand and Jenny Adin Christie slate frame were much admired by my fellow embroiderers from all over the world. Behind me stands my trusty volunteer Shaxina. She was a gem! As she studied to become an English teacher she was able to translate for me between Uzbek/Russian and English. We soon found out that Uzbek and Russian people ask exactly the same question as European visitors do: Is that real gold? However, their question has a deeper layer. Modern Uzbek gold embroidery is often done with fake gold. The real deal is just too expensive. Only in special cases do they still use gilt threads. The fact that I demonstrated goldwork embroidery all day long was much appreciated. Many visitors took pictures with me. And I was hugged many times :). The fact that I was couching down a single very thin real gold thread on a silken background was somewhat unusual. Modern Uzbek embroidery often uses multiple gold threads. Just like in Europe, in order to survive as a craft the techniques had to adapt to speed the process up. One policeman took pity on me and offered to bring his mum's embroidery machine ... It is hard to describe the festive atmosphere of the festival. We were located just opposite the ancient citadel. The main thoroughfare was blocked and turned into an elongated square along which our booths were set up. When we arrived at Bukhara train station we were welcomed with song and dance. The same on the first day of the festival. A long procession of gigantic puppets, dancers and musicians came past our booths. The costumes of the people were decorated with elaborate goldwork embroidery. On the first evening, we were invited to a lovely concert with yet more song and dance. And probably a history lesson with actors coming out of the citadel. You can see a video of it on YouTube. It contains beautiful close-ups of the gold-embroidered costumes the dancers are wearing. On the last evening, I was awarded $900 for becoming second in the category: "The gold embroiderer who revived ancient traditions" (c. 59:19 in the above video). I felt valued and grateful. Especially as I had a nasty experience with a Dutch visitor earlier that day. She walked up to my booth and exclaimed: "This has absolutely nothing to do with the Netherlands. Why are you here pretending that this is a Dutch tradition?". Yup, even after travelling 4300 km my own people can not be nice. However, the beautiful award on my wall will daily remind me that my work as an embroiderer and researcher is valued and on par with similar international efforts!
Although the days were very full and tiring, I did manage to ask questions and observe goldwork embroiderers from all over the world. I even traded my broche for a Bukhara one with the grand dame of Bukhara goldwork embroidery: Muqaddas Jumayeva. Observing her work was a treat! All festival participants were also given a traditional gold embroidered (machine) velvet mantle and a book on the history of gold embroidery in Bukhara. More on the book next week!
23 Comments
Cindy Jackson
13/5/2024 14:46:41
What an amazing experience and a well deserved award! It does my heart good to see not only embroidery, in particular gold embroidery, and the preserving of historical techniques celebrated with such a wonderful event! Hearty congratulations!
Reply
Mabel
13/5/2024 15:37:41
Hoi Jessica, hartelijk gefeliciteerd met deze mooie prijs!! Jammer dat een landgenoot dit op voorhand drijgde te verknoeien. Niets van aan trekken je weet waar de beste stuurlui staan?? dat is aan de wal.
Reply
Marjan Kuyken
13/5/2024 20:08:01
Van mij ook hartelijk gefeliciteerd van nog een Nederlandse die heel trots is dat iemand van Nederland wereld beroemd is voor goudwerk
Reply
Jane Bawn
13/5/2024 15:47:02
What a fantastic experience, so pleased for you. Well deserved.
Reply
NancyB
13/5/2024 15:51:50
What a wonderful accolade, and so well deserved. Well done! The festival ought to be known about more widely -- they certainly pulled out all the stops for the participants. To be surrounded by other practitioners, see their practices first-hand in such an interesting place was clearly an experience you won't soon forget.
Reply
13/5/2024 16:08:43
Thank you, Nancy! I hope they'll have me back in 2026. And I hope to see more European embroiderers then.
Reply
Tineke Tinbergen
13/5/2024 17:04:16
Wat een fantastische ervaring en zo bijzonder om daar een prijs te krijgen. Helemaal geweldig! Tineke
Reply
Ien Rappoldt
13/5/2024 17:45:30
Beste Jessica,
Reply
Annelot
13/5/2024 17:55:04
Waarom kunnen Nederlanders niet gewoon trots zijn als ze n landgenoot tegenkomen. Nederland is meer dan tulpen en klompen. Wat n eer om daar te mogen zijn en te leren van ervaren goudborduurders/sters. En om geweldige voorbeelden van goudborduurwerk te zien. Fijn dat er zo'n waardering voor jouw werk is.
Reply
Anja
13/5/2024 19:19:18
Wat een geweldige ervaring Jessica!
Reply
Marie-Renée Otis
14/5/2024 15:57:34
Congratulations on your accomplishment and the prize that you received. What you do is quite important.
Reply
Dagmar
15/5/2024 11:46:39
Congratulations to your award, Jessica! And thanks for the interesting report about the event! I guess this was a great experience which leaves you with lots of inspirations and lovely memories!
Reply
Irene Kennedy
20/5/2024 15:58:16
What a wonderful experience! It is so exhilarating to share your craft with others. Your kaftan with the pomegranate pattern is truly stunning. Congratulations on your award.
Reply
Rhoda Nevins
22/5/2024 09:15:57
Well done Jessica on your award and what an experience you had, meeting all those people and experiencing a very interesting country. Which I am sure you will treasure and remember all your life.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Liked my blog? Please consider making a donation or becoming a Patron so that I can keep up the good work and my blog ad-free!
Categories
All
Archives
January 2025
|