![]() Since any style of Filipino weaving is rare to find, she felt that it was important that Bawer Young continue to practice the form and teach. Calica met Bawer Young through the Bay Area Filipino dance community, and upon learning that she was a master weaver, Calica knew they were brought together for a reason. It is most likely that Bawer Young is the only Kalinga weaver in California and possibly in the United States.īawer Young worked with apprentice Holly Calica, whose family is from the same island of Luzon but from different cultural groups and locations-her father came from the Ilocano group and her mother Pagasinan. ACTA is fortunate to contribute to the maintenance of the form, Laga, the backstrap loom weaving that is utilized to fashion blankets, celebratory regalia and clothing items, by supporting master artist Jenny Bawer Young through its Apprenticeship Program. In addition to being known as warriors, tribal militants, and historically headhunters, the Kalinga also have preserved various forms of music, dance, artisan work, and many other cultural expressions. The protest around this project not only solidified the Kalinga as resilient, but illuminated their investment in their way of life. As recent as the early 1980’s, the Kalinga people demonstrated unwavering spirit when they defeated the globalization efforts of the World Bank-funded Chico Dam project, which was supported by the Marcos dictatorship. The Kalinga are an indigenous group that has resisted various colonizing efforts by Spanish, Japanese, and US forces throughout the ages, thus maintaining social, political, and cultural ways of knowing specific to them. The backstrap loom is easy to assemble and dismantle and can be rolled and stored anywhere.In the Northern Philippines on the island of Luzon in the Cordillera administrative sector is a region referred to as Kalinga, where the cultural group with the same name, Kalinga, reside. The loom allows the weaver to use their lower body to actively regulate the tension on the warp threads. Originally used to make wrap-around skirts and shawls, contemporary weavers have begun incorporating modern designs and colours, creating fabrics for home furnishings, such as cushion covers, tablecloths and wall hangings, to cater to a larger national and international market.Īlso known as a loin loom or body-tension loom, a backstrap loom is characterised by a strap fixed to one end of the loom which the weaver wears around their waist, while the other end of the loom has individual straps that allow it to be anchored to a railing or pole, making the device portable. Traditionally, the colours of the woven fabrics as well as motifs and patterns have been identifiers of ethnicity. The loom continues to be used by indigenous peoples across the world. In China, loom components fashioned out of bronze date back to the Bronze Age, whereas in Peru, representations of the backstrap loom on vessels of Mochican pottery have been dated to between 200 BCE and 1000 CE. Ethnologists believe the use of the loom spread from South Asia to the Pacific Ocean, and eventually to South and Central America. In several communities in the northeastern states of India like Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Assam, weaving using a backstrap loom is a customary and domestic practice for women and is passed down the generations in a family. Historical and archaeological evidence of the use of backstrap looms has been found across Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia, China, Tibet, Korea, Japan, Myanmar and India 一 specifically in Ladakh and the Northeast, where they are still in use today. ![]() Since the width of the backstrap loom is limited by the width of the weaver’s waist, any fabric woven on the backstrap loom is usually no more than half a metre wide. The weft threads, either contained in a shuttle or manipulated by hand, are passed manually through the warp to create various geometric designs. It is then transferred to the loom, where heald, or heddle, sticks are used to separate alternate threads of the warp. The warp is first prepared by wrapping thread around a warping frame. Traditionally, the various components of the loom are made of local wood or bamboo. The backstrap loom is easy to assemble and dismantle and can be rolled and stored anywhere. 800 CE)īackstrap Loom%newline%Also known as a loin loom or body-tension loom, a backstrap loom is characterised by a strap fixed to one end of the loom which the weaver wears around their waist, while the other end of the loom has individual straps that allow it to be anchored to a railing or pole, making the device portable.
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