Sao Paulo – A group of 15 Brazilian artisans should have their work and their life stories presented at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN) in New York, United States, in September. An exhibition should present handicraft made by them, as well as videos and photographs about the work and daily life of these women. The exhibition will be at the entrance of the UN General Assembly and will be open to the public from September 9th to 18th.It may also be viewed by heads of state and government participating in the annual meeting of the United Nations, slated to occur at the end of the month.
The artisans exhibiting went through a selection process and were chosen for the items they produce and also for the influence of their work in the community in which they live. According to Tania Machado, project manager at the Brazilian Handicraft Export Association (Abexa), creative and entrepreneurial women were selected, not only for being great artists, but also for the benefits generated to the community by their craft.
The idea of the exhibition at the UN came from Centro Cape, an institute devoted to entrepreneurship in the state of Minas Gerais. The aim was to show the crafts made by female hands in Minas Gerais. The initiative, however, was also embraced by Abexa and extended to the whole of Brazil. "From 80% to 85% of handicraft production in Brazil is made by women who live in the countryside, in cities in the interior, on farms," says Machado. According to her, handicraft is usually produced to generate extra income to those women and becomes the story of the community, as other residents start producing it too.
Abexa is organizing the exhibition, in partnership with the Brazilian Handicraft Program (PAB), the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae).Registration were opened to artisans in December last year. A pre-selection of 100 women took place and the group of 15 was chosen by a curatorial team formed by representatives of the PAB, Sebrae and Abexa. “These are women from all over Brazil, from the Amazon (in northern Brazil) to Uruguaiana (in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul)," says Machado.
The selected artisans are from the Brazilian states of Acre, Alagoas, Amazonas, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. They are women like Raimunda Nonata Pinheiro Silva, from Rio Branco, Acre, a leader in production of indigenous handicraft of the Kaxinawa tribe. She founded an association in the area and works, along with other Indians, with raw materials from the forest, like clay, seeds, cotton and natural dyes for the production of clothes and utensils, among others.
From the state of Ceará, the person selected was Maria Miguel de Oliveira, from Várzea Alegre. Despite a congenital atrophy of limbs, she works on teaching literacy and handicraft to the residents of her community. Today, over a thousand people live in the region, in the production of cotton hammocks, through a community association. Among those chosen is Raimunda Teixeira da Silva, from Teresina, Piauí, who heads a ceramic craft cooperative with 29 people, and Monica Carvalho, from Rio de Janeiro, who uses leftovers of nature as inputs for the production of jewellery, panels and sculptures.
The exhibition will have an opening cocktail, on September 9th, and a conference with the release of a book and a documentary about Brazilian handicraft, on the 10th of September. It is estimated that over 10,000 people should view the exhibition.
Service:
Female Artisan Exhibition
Pictures, handicraft, videos and conference
From September 9th to 18th, 2013
UN Headquarters in New York
Further information: https://www.facebook.com/mulherartersabrasileira
*Translated by Mark Ament
