A LETTER TO TAMDAGHT
mariëlle videler
Dear Bahia,
How are you and the rest of the Montaser family doing? It must be quiet in the Kasbah now all the children went back to school. The blinded journey marks the days we stayed at the Kasbah clearly in my mind. One of the things I remember is our first dinner together. I had to think of it because, last Friday here in Den Helder, Zineb served a delicious meal with couscous. She invited me at her place to meet her mother and her friends. And I got introduced to Zineb’s friend: Aicha. She was born in a little village that you probably know, it is not so far from Tamdaght and famous for its roses: Kelaat M’Gouna. Since seven years Aicha lives here in Den Helder. She showed me pictures of her traditional wedding; she’s an Amazigh woman. The colours of her wedding clothes, very bright orange combined with soft pink and intense dark blue, popped out of her Smartphone. It brought back memories of the photo-shoot we did at the Kasbah: me wearing your dress…
Bahia when you gave me the beautiful handmade carpet you sowed the seed for the idea to create ‘A New Carpet For The Sultan’. Tapestry plays such an important role in the Amazigh culture: I could not ignore this. At the same time I realised that I preferred to make the carpet together with a Moroccan cooperative. So I decided to focus, first, on the pattern for the carpet. I am creating an impermanent design, a sketch on a very big scale, one that will disappear after one day. With this design in my memory I want to come back to Tamdaght to create a carpet together with a traditional female cooperative, like the one you introduced me to. The idea to follow this process was fuelled by the work method of some designers that I read about in the book Azetta (Post 032). They used to travel around the steppe to offer their craft to notables of nomad groups. Their design wasn’t drawn in any way but instilled in their mind. While sitting in front of the weaving loom, they would indicate the most important points of the composition with little knots. Finally to intensify the temporality of my design I am drawing it with coloured sand on the floor. Silver sand and shell sand that I dyed with natural pigments: beets, red cabbage, turmeric and yellow onions (Post 043). I need 61 kilos of sand to cover the lower part of the floor at the place I am working these two moths, 70 square meter of the Pompgemaal in Den Helder (an old industrial building, previously used for pumping up water). To make 10 cups of beet-sand you need 8 beets. First you cook the beets and than you straw the sand in the dark pink water. You let it infuse for one night. The beet-sand needs to dry for three days, in the dark because this colour fades in daylight (Post 049). Naturally I also add sugar to the design for the carpet, which made my think of Moroccan tea, of course… I’ll create tiny mountains with the sugar to make the eye wander over the carpet. (Post 048)
The pattern for the carpet is composed of a few repetitive motives. Circles drawn with yellow and white chalk form the primer and make the connection between the floor and the sand. The main motive is a repeated female figure. She bends her torso and holds her arms in the air. Is she a goddess, a woman dancing, maybe praying or is it a reference to the pose of the statue of the Berber Queen Dihya (7th century)? The third motive I created just before I started to draw with the sand on the floor: it’s a stylized bird, my ‘neighbour’ at the Pompgemaal: a little wren. I have fallen in love with this little sand brown bird, recognized by its up-turned tail. In the Amazigh tapestry I also found a reference to a bird, one that is frequently used. Tit’ n-teskourt – as the eye of the partridge motif is called – symbolizes a submissive and beautiful woman. It is composed of a large lozenge made up of many small black, red, and white lozenges. When I take another look at the carpet you gave me I recognize this motif. (Post 012) I am happy that the birds have been accompanying me during my stay Den Helder, but in Morocco, as well. Remembering the storks of the Kasbah…
Quote from my notebook:
Marrakesh, my first morning in Morocco, sounds come through the blinded window. Twittering and chirping of birds, they make beautiful and unfamiliar sounds, an almost tropical atmosphere. Never thought it would be birds that make a stunning impression on me during my blinded journey. Their whistling sounds like music to my ears, I’m totally happy.
Next week, 27 April 2014, ‘A New Carpet For The Sultan’ will be presented to the public here. The preparations are in full swing. I am almost halfway the floor I want to cover completely with sand, it’s like a coloured desert (Post 053). My knees are killing me. I invited Zined to read a Berber-story: ‘Hmad Unamir’, for the public that will come to the exhibition. During my research I found this story in the book ‘Ikkattinn’, Berber stories translated by Harry Stroomer. And I am baking shortbread in the form of the female motive of the carpet. It can be bought on the day of the presentation. The profit will be the first funding of the realisation of the carpet in Tamdaght? To be continued…
Love Mariëlle
Den Helder, April 13, 2014