my new project: the libyan loom! 🧵ft. a diy tassle holder made from a hanger, lots of yarn, and embellishments to be utilized hanging upon my loom as i start a new piece.
i started weaving several years back after seeing my amazigh friend, whose family is from morocco, make beautiful pieces in honor of her heritage. while im an artist, i tend to work with paint, charcoal, collaging, and pastels; needlework intimidated me. i had sewn a few dresses back in high school, and love designing clothing, but never got much further than that.
my friend told me to start small and build my way up to a loom if i liked it. so i spent the first couple of years practicing strictly on cardboard looms before finally getting a medium sized one that sits on a table, or the floor (my preferred method) nicely.
i fell in love with weaving immediately! i love how meditative it is, how the strings tighten as you first set up the warp. but mostly, the love comes from a deep admiration of my culture and ancestors, who also warped their looms & said a prayer before commencing. im a continent away with little access to my libyan family and history, which has always broken my heart. ive spent most of my life in search of our stories.
my maghrebi friends, alongside years of research, scouring through italian, french, and arabic writings (with lots of help and translating apps) have helped me build a tapestry of information i never thought id have access to in this lifetime.
i went from never knowing what libya looked like to finally seeing pictures of the buildings from both the ottoman and italian colonial periods, the street my family founded as part of the first group of (semi) nomadic tribes to settle in what would became benghazi. i've seen pictures of orange trees, date palms, and olive trees, the location my grandfather ran his fruit shop and hosted gatherings to watch the newly formed ahly football team. i tracked down the italian prizon my grandfather was sent to during the libyan genocide and the notes taken by the captors about various prisoners, and learned of the many family members we lost to italy's fourth shore colonial project.
in spite of all we, as a family and as a people, lost of our already small population during italy's reign, libyans continue to hang onto our histories, and im forever grateful to everyone who has shared stories, photos, books, and resources with me. who helped me create a collage of my heritage where there was once a lonely, estranged longing. i managed to dig up the textiles and traditional clothing my aunties sent me as a child, and photos of me dressed up in them; these pieces inspire my work and im so glad we didn't lose them.
my hope is to continue the long, long tradition of libyan and libyan amazigh weaving practices here in the diaspora. i plan on making many libyan inspired pieces and sharing as much as i can about our history, culture, and art. our textiles are vibrant, colorful, heavily decorated, and gorgeous in true maghrebi maximalist fashion. i hope even just a few people find their way to this digital love letter, dedicated to my family's home, and to all the women who came before me. who took their spot on the floor in front of their loom just as i do now. i conjure their memory in every piece.
قلبي في ليبيا، وروحي تنتمي إلى البحر الأبيض المتوسط. ❤️
