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By Lee Ann Ward | |
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. | ![]() I first travelled to the Maya
Tzutujil village of San Juan La Laguna in May of 1987, at the invitation
of a young friend from the village, Florinda,
who was attending school in Antigua, Guatemala. As I spent more time in
San Juan, several of the women gave me lovely hand woven dresses and
cloth. Although most Tzutuhil women in the village learn to weave at a
young age, I soon realized that few weavers were able to earn a fair wage
for their work, because middle people purchased their weavings for little
more than the cost of the yard used in making the cloth. A group of
weavers and sewers asked for my assistance in organizing a production and
marketing association to produce and sell textiles for export. The group, Las
Artesanas de San Juan, sought fair markets in order to avoid continued
exploitation by middle people. They have attempted to provide a fair wage
to weavers and sewers, and over the years they have been a force for |
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. | The embroidered collar above left is typical of most modern huipiles from San Juan la Laguna while the right hand huipil is of unusual coloration. The huipil being woven of white fabric with purple stripes could be older. The white huipil at the top of the page certainly is the oldest of the three and has the finest quality embroidery. It was originally a child's huipil. A machine-made piece of white cloth has been added to each side of the original hand-woven huipil to enlarge it so it could be worn by a woman. |
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To contact us write: Arte Maya Tz'utuhil, P.O. Box 40391, San
Francisco, CA 94140. Telephone: (415) 282-7654.
Email me at
All paintings and photographs Copyright © 1988–2015 Arte Maya Tz'utuhil |